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THE
MASTERPIECES
OF THE
Centennial International
EXHIBITION
VOLUME I
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ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE
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THE
MASTERPIECES
Centennial International Exhibition
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I
FINE ART
Edward Strahan
PHILADELPHIA
GEBBIE & BARRIE
M3
v./,c./
RfVfZE
The Table of Contents.
VOLUME L
• PAGE.
On the Fine Art of the Exhibition i
The Castellani Collection of Antiques 320
The Masterpieces of Photography 332
The Fine Art Literature 342
ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL.
PAINTINGS.
Subject. Painter.
Christ Walking on the Water, (Literature) . . Bida, A. ...
Western Kansas Bierstadt, Albert
Oxen Ploughing, (Literature) Boiiheur, Rosa .
First Step, (Literature) Boiinat, L. y. F.
Breezy Day off Dieppe Briscoe, F. . . .
Cienoa Brown, G. L. .
After the Battle Ca/deron, P. H.
Roger and Angelica Chartran, T. . .
Old Mill, The Cropsey, y. F. .
Heath Field in Holland Elten, K. van .
Engraver.
. L. Flame 11 g . .
. R. Hinshelwood
. P. Moran . . .
. A. Masson . .
. R. Hinshehuflod
. //. .S". Bcchvilh
. F. A. Heath .
. M. Goupil . .
. R. Hinsltelwood
. R. Hinslielwood
Plate. Text.
344
39
336
346
1 10
204
188
«4
232
260
356
39
366
354
1 10
212
18S
366
250
252
LIST OF JLLUSTRATIONS
Subject.
Painter.
Cat Feigning Death Geinpt, B. te . .
San Giorgio, Venice Gifford, S. R. .
Landscape and Cattle Hart, J^ames M.
Brig Hove-to for a Pilot Haas, M. F. H.
End of the Game Irving, jF. B.
Covenanter's Marriage yoJuistoii, Alexanu
"1876" Lewis, Edmund D.
Ecce Homo Morales, Luis
Fog on the Grand Banks Norton, W. E. .
Bather Perrault, A. . .
Touchstone and Audrey Pettie, J^o/tn . .
Memorial Hall, (Design) '. . Pifon, Camile
Feeding the Sacred Ibis Poyntcr, E. j^. .
Reynold's Portrait Reynolds, Sir y.
The Last Hope Ronner, Henriette
Elaine Rosenthal, Toby .
Trial of Sir Harry Vane Rothermcl, P. T.
Amulet Seller Semiradsky, H. .
Angelo and Isabella, (Literature) .... Spiers, A. . . .
The Scheldt Stanjield, C. . .
Chesterfield's Ante-Room JVard, E. M.
Rabbit Hunters Wilkie, Sir David
icr
Engraver.
. P. Moran . . .
. R. ILinshelwood
. R. Hinshelwood
■ R. Hinshelwood
. S. J. Ferris .
. F. Lightfoot . .
■ R. Hinshelwood
. M. Maillcfer .
■ R. Hinshelwood
. S. y. Ferris
. C. Cottsen . .
. MeGi'ffin, y.
. F. jfoubert
. T. IV. Hunt .
. P. Moran . .
. R. Hinshelwood
. R. Dudcnsing
. S. y. Ferris
. W. Schmidt .
. R. IVallis . .
. C. IF. Sharpe
. y. C. Armytage
Plate.
252
5°
250
46
28S
I So
30
218
212
292
140
Title
100
256
2.^0
290
148
302
356
308
176
Text.
PAGE.
252
51
250
44
288
188
39
292
140
38
lOI
252
250
290
149
302
344
366
189
123
SCULPTURE.
Subject.
Sculptor.
Engraver.
Plate. Text.
Finding of Moses Barzaglii, F. .
America Bell, yohn . .
Ophelia Connelley, P. F.
American Soldier Conrads, C. . .
Venus Gibson, yohn
West Wind Gould, T. R. . .
Reading Girl Magni, Pictro
Columbia Mueller, A. M. y.
Premiere Pose Roberts, H.
Nydia Rogers, R. . .
Electricity Rosetti, Antonio
Steam Rosetti, Antonio
Medea Storey, W. W.
G. y. Stodart 114
W.Roffe 78
S. y. Ferris 296
y.Serz 62
W. Roffe ' . 112
y. Serz 300
JV. Roffe . : 172
y. Serz Frontispiece
R. Dudensing 126
y. Serz 29S
y. H. Baker loS
y. H. Baker 166
y. Serz 214
114
79
296
62
loS
296
172
29S
loS
166
214
TO THE FINE ART OF THE EXHIBITION, 1S76.
ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.
PAINTINGS.
Subject.
Painter.
Lake of Piedilugo Ashton, F.
Woods in Autumn Asktoji, F.
Beacon, The Absaloti, 'y.
Noon in the Country Bartesago, Emico
Rizpah Becker, George
Edge of the Forest Bellee, L. G. de
Sunday in Devonshire Bellows, F.
Gale on the Nile Bcrchere, N
Wheelwrights' Shop Billings, E. T.
Grandmother's Tales Bliune, Edmund
Anniversary, The Bompiaiii, R
Pompeiian Boy Flute-Player Bonipiani, R
Rome, from the Tiber . . . Bossuet, F. A
Puritans Going to Church Boughion, G. H. 194-
The Last Struggle Brackett, IV. M.
Canal at Courrieres Breton, Emile
Village at Artois Breton, Emile
Bringing in the Corn Bridgman, F. E
Curling in Central Park Brown, 'y. G
Francesca di Rimini Cabanel, A
Cassandra Cainorrc, L
Call on Uncle, the Cardinal Castiglione, G 174-
Warrant (The), Haddon Hall Castiglione, G
Your Good Health Champney, J.W.
Fisherman's Wife of Zuyder-Zee Cogen, F.
King's Entertainment Cotnte, P. C. u8-
Lock, The Constable, yolm
Dream of Carrick Shore Danicll, W.
Oyster Shipping at Cancale Danbigny, K.
I and my Pipe Diclitz, K.
Croizette, M'lle Duran, Carolus
Visit to the Village Artist Eggcrf, S
Duet in the Smithy Ewers, ff. •. . . ,
Pan and Bacchantes Felix, E -170-
Mehncholy Feyen-Pcrrin, F. N. A
Fisherman's Wife and Child Feyen-Perrin, F. N. A
LATE.
Text.
PAGE.
PAGE.
237 •
264
259 •
266
1S7 .
185
197 .
224
ii ■
66
129 .
134
44 •
74
151 ■
179
93 ■
45
165 .
207
167 .
176
171 .
176
125 ■
178
195 •
219
12
47
76 .
So
219 .
233
82 .
96
13 ■
46
113 •
148
179 .
19S
175 •
I So
98 .
120
S .
51
29s ■
312
-119 .
196
37 ■
So
2S7 .
310
267 .
274
41 .
92
87 .
100
153 •
203
.65 .
no
-271 .
269
57 ■
120
301 .
• 313
LIST OF J LLiSTR A TI O NS
Subject.
Painter.
Plate.
Casual Ward, The FilJcs, S. L i88-
Lady Jane Gray Folingsby, G. F. io6-
Evocation of Souls Fonlana, R
Park, The Fotinnois, A
Mill, The Founnois, T.
Beware ! Forbes, y. C.
Cairo Fruit Girl Goodall, F. 146-
Monastery Garden GuilUni, A
Luther Intercepted Harrach, Count Voti
Disputed Toll Hardy, H. 254-
Keene Valley, Adirondacks Hart, William
In the Park Hiddcmann, F.
Returning the Salute Hodgson, y. E ■ .
Lord (The ), Gave, &:c Hall, F.
Checkmate Horsley, y. C.
Sowing the Word Hiiiilington, D
Lake George Kcnsett, jF- F.
Unwelcome Guest, The Lance, G 210-
Fellah Woman Landelle, C.
Harvest Scene Laporte, E
La Rota Lehmann, R
May-Day in the Time of Queen Elizabeth . . . Leslie, C. R
King Morvan Liiminais, E. V. 190-
Out in the Cold Mac Uliirter, J.
Sentinel, The Maignan, Albert
Venice Doing Homage to Catherine Cornaro . . Makart, H.
Ornithologist, The Marks, H. S
"1776" Maynard, G. W.
During the Sermon Michis, I'
In the Bay of Naples Millet, F. D
New York Harbor Moran, E
Return of the Herd Moran. P.
Madeleine Flower-Market Aforin, E 234-
Mountain (iloom, Glencoe Newton, A. P 138-
Wedding in a Country Church AWdenberg, B 2-;6-
Moonlight on the Lagoons, Venice Orchardson, W. Q
Prince Henry, Poins and Falstaff Orchardson, W. Q. . ■
Bride in Alsace, A Pabst, C. A 222-
Charles I. leaving Westminster Hall Pott, L. y.
Young Bull, The Potter, Paul, (Copy)
.•\pelles Poynter, E. jF.
Festival, The Poynter, E. y.
Golden Age, The Poynter, E. y.
■107
121
133
289
61
•147
279
103
■255
36
25°
309
77
90
25
52
■21 1
163
73
95
191
305
275
4
307
29
1 1 1
28
21
9
235
139
247
60
285
137
227
229
TO THE FINE ART OF THE EXHIBITION, 1S76.
Subject.
Painter.
Plate.
202-20^
241
56
Death of Cleopatra Prinsep, V. C.
Landing of Columbus Puebla, D
First Proof, The Reichert, F.
Reverie Romagnole, A
Reproof, The Sartain, E 20
Christian Martyr under Diocletian Slingcneyer, E 125
View of Paintings Spanish Court 241
Imogen Starr, Louisa 262-263
Mistress Dorothy Storey, G. A 68
Only a Rabbit Storey, G. A 1S2-183
Convalescent, The Tadema, L. A 69
Vintage Festival Tadema, L. A 17
Insanity of Queen Juana Valles, L 241
Sea-Shore at Blankenberghe Verhas, 9^. 28^
Christ Blessing Little Children West, Benjamin 213
Death of General Wolfe West, Benjamin 53
Venetian Water-Carriers Wulffaert, H. 40
Old Russian Couple Zagorsky, N. 297
Text.
PAGE.
224
243
127
193
209
242
268
71
186
74
31
245
286
232
67
54
304
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE FINE ART.
ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.
SCULPTURE.
Subject.
Sculptor.
Plate. Text.
Aurora Bailly, J. A 6 . . 55
Fleeting Time Barcaglia, Dciiato 161 . . 176
Spinning-Girl of Megara Barrias, L. E 291 . . 310
Young Vine-Grower Bartholdi, A 343 ■ 3°^
First Friend, The Barzaghi, F. 1S5 . . 198
Vanity Barzaghi, F. 145 • • i/^
Mother's Treasure Borghi,A 281 . . 282
Rienzi Borghi, A 299 .. 314
Cleopatra Braga, Enrico 143 • '44
Mountebank, The Braga, Enrico 293 .. 311
Young Grape-Gatherer Branca, Giulio 105 . . 145
Erring Wife, The Cambos, yules 169 . . 200
Africaine Caroni, E 40 . . 59
Telegram of Lo\e Caroni, E 32 • • 59
Shinty Player, The Chilian Court 128 . . 200
Lucifer Corti, Signor 80 . . 104
Youthful Hannibal D' Epinay, P. 89 131-152
Young Mother Fraikin, C. A 249 . . 284
Venus Gibson, yohn 64 . . loS
Drunken Moujik . Godebski, C. 217 . . 230
Apotheosis of Washington . Guarnerio, P. 156 • ■ '^o
Aronte Guarnerio, P. 265 . . 278
Forced Prayer, The Guarnerio, P. 48 . . 62
Last Days of Pompeii Guarnerio, P 3°5 • • 3°°
Vanity Guarnerio, P. i3" • ■ '44
Little Samaritan Hartley, y. S. 24 . . 62
Columbus Italian Court i77 • • 204
Louis XL at Peronne Martin, Felix 273 .. 281
Secret from on High Moulin, H. 97 ■ • n?
Cinderella Nevin, B 16 . . 55
Eagle and Turkey Pandiani, y. 116 .. 134
Berenice Pediizzi, R 257 .. 276
Michael Angelo Pozzi, Egidio 81 . . 94
The Beggars Rizzardo, G 207 . . 228
CASTELLAXI COLLECTION AND MASTERPLECES OE PlIOTOGLiAI'IIY.
Subject.
Sculptor.
Ruth Rogers, R. . .
Bather, The Tantardini , A.
Reader, The Tantardini, A.
Bh-d's-Nest, The
First Step, The Trombetta, Signor
Affection and Envy Zannoni, U. . .
Plate. Text.
Trombetta, Siirnor it
56 .
• 127
72 .
• 93
215 •
. 229
199 .
• 258
225 .
• 231
239 •
. 264
ENGRAVINGS OF THE CASTELLANI COLLECTION.
Fic
^ "'• PAGE.
1. Gold Ear-ring, Greek Design 321
2. Dolphin Venus Ear-ring 321
3. Helix-Shaped Ornament 321
4. Necklace, B. C. 700 321
5. Colossal Statue of Bacchus 313
6. Roman Bondsman's Badge of Slavery 322
7. Actor with Comic Mask, in Terra-Cotta 323
8. Toilet Articles of a Lady of Ancient Rome 324
9. Head of Bacchus — Greek 319
10. Bust of Euripides 317
11. Bronze Mirror 325
12. Mirror-Case • 325
13. Bronze Clasp 326
14. Boy Extracting a Thorn 315
15. Bronze Bull, found at Chiusi 327
16. Bronze Toilet Box, Duck-Shape 328
17. Comb, about twenty-one hundred years old 329
ENGRAVINGS OF THE MASTERPIECES OF PHOTOGRAPHY.
Subject.
Painter.
Winter in Holland Kaemmerer, M.
Market at Cracow, Portion of Lipinski, H. . .
Romeo and Juliet Makart, H. . .
PAGE.
333
335
331
FINE ART LITERATVRE.
ENGRAVINGS FROM FINE ART LITERATURE.
Subject.
From.
Plate. Text.
Attack, The Musee dcs Deux Mondes 355
Canipo Santo in Pisa, The Italy 341
Entombment, The Histoire des Peintrcs 363
Fontaine de r.Vvenue rObservatoire Les Promenades de Paris 345
Garden Party in the Fifteenth Century .... Les 'jFardins, Histoire 357
Church Interior Histoire des Peintres 361
Mirror Lake Le Tour du Monde 338
Pointers, The Histoire des Peintres 365
Progress Through Barcelona Christophe Colomb 353
Riviere de Charenton Les Promenades de Paris 347
351
339
343
349
359
Scene in Batavia Voyage autour du Monde ....
Terni Cascade, The Italy
Trieste Italy
Venus and Mercury Thorhaldsen sa Vie et son CEuvre .
Wheat Field, The Histoire des Peintres
354
346
360
348
360
360
346
360
352
349
352
346
348
350
360
ELECTROTYPED BY MACKELLAR,
RODGERS, PHILADELPHIA.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
XHIBITIONS undoubtedly date back to a very remote period, even the
Olympic games of the Greeks might be classed as such, and the ancient
periodical fairs for the display and sale of natural and industrial products,
some of them continuing to the present day, although not properly speak-
ing, true expositions or intended for such, yet gave great encouragement
to the arts and manufactures of their time.
After Europe began to recover from the blight of the Dark Ages, the
arts of civilization and luxury, centering and developing in Italy, rapidly
found their way into France, a country already prepared for them by its ancient
Roman education; and from being the recipient, she gradually became the producer,
early taking a pre-eminent stand among the nations of the earth in almost every
known branch of manufacture, especially those connected with art. This she has
' retained to the present day. It is but natural, therefore, that she should have been
foremost, at least in the modern world, to originate the idea of Industrial Exhibitions.
The first of which we have any record was that of 1798, born of the Revolution, a reaction
as it were from the turbulent spirit of the times, back to the pursuits of peace and industry.
The Marquis d'Aveze, shortly after his appointment in 1797 as Commissioner of the Royal
Manufactories of the Gobelins, of Sevres, and of the Savonnerie, found the workmen reduced
nearly to starvation by the neglect of the previous two years, while the storehouses, in the
mean time, had been filled with their choicest productions. The original idea occurred to
him to have a display and sale of this large stock of tapestries, china and carpets, and
obtaining the consent of the government, he made arrangements for an exhibition at the then
uninhabited Chateau of St. Cloud. On the day, however, appointed for the opening, he was
HIS TORI CA L 1 .V I'R D U C TI N.
compelled by a decree of the Directory, banishing the nobility, to quit France, and the project
was a failure. The following year, however, returning to France, he organized another ex-
hibition on a larger scale, collecting a great variety of beautiful objects of art and arranging
them in the house and gardens of the Maison d'Orsay for exhibition and sale. The success
was so great that the government adopted the idea, and the first official Exposition was esta-
blished and held on the Champ de Mars, a Temple of Industry being erected, surrounded by
sixty porticoes, and filled with the most magnificent collection of objects that France could
produce. Here was first inaugurated the system of awards by juries, composed of gentlemen
distinguished for their taste in the various departments of art, and prizes were awarded foi
excellence in design and workmanship.
The government was so satisfied with the good effects resulting from this exhibition, that
it resolved to hold them annually; but notwithstanding the circular of the Minister of the
Interior to this effect, the disturbed state of the country prevented a repetition until i8oi.
The First Consul taking the greatest interest in the affair, visited the factories and workshops
of the principal towns in France, to convince the manufacturers of the great importance to
themselves and their country of favoring the undertaking. A temporary building was
erected in the quadrangle of the Louvre, and notwithstanding great difficulties attending
the establishment of the exhibition, there were two hundred competitors for prizes ; ten gold,
twenty silver, and thirty bronze medals being awarded, — one of the last to Jacquard for his
now famous loom. Among these prizes, were some for excellence in woollen and cotton
fabrics, and improvements in the quality of wool as a raw material.
The third exhibition was in 1802, where there were six hundred prize competitors. These
expositions became so popular as to result in the formation of a Societe d' Encouragement,
thus creating a powerful aid to the industrial efforts of the F"rench manufacturers. At the
fourth exhibition, in 1806, the printed cottons of Mulhausen and Logelbach, and silk-thread
and cotton-lace were first displayed, and prizes were adjudged for the manufacture of iron by
means of coke, and of steel by a new process.
Foreign wars prevented further exhibitions until 1819, after which time they became more
frequent, being held in 1823, 1827, etc.; the tenth being in 1844, the last, under the reign
of Louis Philippe, when three thousand nine hundred and sixty manufacturers exhibited
their productions. It was the most splendid and varied display that had ever been held in
France. The building, designed by the architect Moreau and erected in the Carre Marigny
Exhibition Building, Paris, JS44.
of the Champs Elysees, was an immense timber shed, constructed and entirely completed in
seventy days, at a cost of about thirty cents per square foot of surface covered. We present
an elevation showing the royal entrance. It was at this exhibition that the first Nasmyth
steam-hammer was shown on the continent, and the display of heavy moving machinery was
much greater than had ever taken place before.
In 1849, notwithstanding the political revolution through which France had just passed,
she organized another exhibition on a still grander scale than any preceding. The services
of the architect Moreau were again called into requisition, and another building, of which
we give an engraving, erected in the Champs Elysees, more pretentious in its character than
IX TE R NA TI NA L E XH IB I TI NS.
Exhibition Builim^ Fins iS4g
any previous one, covering an area of 220,000 square feet, exclusive of an agricultural annexe,
and costing about the same price per square foot as the building of 1S44. At this time the
number of exhibitors had increased from one thousand four hundred, in 1806, to nearly
five thousand, there being no less than three thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight prizes
awarded, and the building remained open for sixty days.
Other nations, noticing the beneficial results of the French exhibitions, became active in
the matter; the King of Bavaria giving an exhibition at Munich, in 1845, and previous to this
time occasional ones had been held in Austria, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Denmark, Sweden,
etc.; those of Belgium being numerous and important. In the British Dominions, exhibi-
tions had been held in Dublin as early as 1827, and later at Manchester, Leeds, etc.; but they
partook more of the nature of bazaars, or fairs for the sale of the productions of the sur-
rounding country; even that of Manchester, 1849, was of this character.
Each of these previous exhibitions had been strictly national, confined to the products
of the special country by which it was held. The idea seems to have been suggested, how-
ever, in France, in 1849, of giving an International feature to that exhibition; M. Buffet, the
Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, having addressed a circular letter on the subject to
various manufacturers, with a view of ascertaining their opinions; but the resulting replies
were so unfavorable that the project was abandoned, and France lost the opportunity, which
was reserved to England, of the credit of the first really International Industrial Exhibition,
in that of London, 1851.
It may truly be said that the great success of this effort was owing to the indefatigable
perseverance and indomitable energy of His Royal Highness Prince Albert, who took the
greatest interest in the proceedings which gave it birth, from the very commencement, bring-
ing to bear all the influence which attached to his position, his remarkable sagacity in matters
of business, and his courageous defiance of all risks of failure. At one of the first meetings
held on the subject, on the 29th of June, 1849, at Buckingham Palace, he communicated to
those present his views in relation to a proposed exhibition of competition, in 185 1, suggest-
ing that the articles exhibited should consist of four great divisions, namely, raw materials,
machinery and mechanical inventions, manufactures, and sculpture and the plastic arts ; and at
a second meeting, on July 14th of the same year, he gave still further suggestions of a plan
of operations which he recommended, comprising the formation of a Royal Commission,
the definition of the nature of the exhibition and of the best mode of conducting its pro-
ceedings, the determination of a method of deciding prizes and the means of raising a prize
fund and providing for necessary expenses, etc.; and he also pointed out the site afterwards
adopted, stating its advantages, and recommending early application to the government for
permission to appropriate it.
After various preliminary proceedings, the Royal Commission was issued, and at the first
meeting of the Commissioners, on January nth, 1850, it was decided to rely entirely upon
voluntary contributions for means to carry out the plans proposed.
The appeal made to this effect was answered in a most encouraging manner ; a guarantee
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
the list with §250,000, and con-
fund of ;$ 1,1 50,000 was subscribed, one gentleman opening
tributions began to come in from all directions.
Upon the security thus provided the Bank of England undertook to furnish the necessary
advances. Invitations were issued to architects of all nations to submit designs for a
building to cover 700,000
square feet, and although the
competitors amounted to two
hundred and thirty-three in
number, not one design was
found entirely suitable for
adoption. In this dilemma,
the Building Committee pre-
pared a design of their own,
and, notwithstanding it was
strongly condemned by public
opinion as inappropriate and
unsuitable in many respects,
the committee warmly de-
fended it and advertised for
tenders to erect it, requesting
at the same time, that com-
petitors would make any sug-
gestions they saw fit, that
could in their opinion effect a
reduction in the cost.
Messrs. Fox and Hender-
son availing themselves of
this clause, presented a tender
for a building of an entirely
different character, on a plan
proposed by Sir Joseph, then
Mr. Paxton, who was at that
time engaged in the erection
of a large plant-house for the
Duke of Devonshire, at Chats-
worth. The design fully met
the approbation of the Com-
mittee and their tender was
accepted, on the i6th of May,
1850. Possession of the ground
was obtained on the 30th of
July, and work commenced
forthwith, — the actual erection
beginning about the first week
in September.
Mr. Fox made the working drawings himself devoting his great experience and skill
personally to the work for eighteen hours a day, during seven weeks, and the preparation
of the iron work and other material for the construction of the building was taken charge
of by Mr. Henderson. As the building progressed, extensive experiments were made to
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
xxi
test its strength for the purposes intended, and it was found fully equal to the severest require-
ments. The contract was not finally consummated until the end of October; but with a
courage and enterprise characteristic of this firm, the work was pushed forward for many
weeks on faith alone, in order to insure the completion of the building at the time fixed for
the opening, — the first of May, 1851. It was opened at the time appointed, by the Queen in
person, with great ceremony, although considerable work still remained to be done, A
HISTORICAL lyTRO DUCTIOX.
report of the proceedings of the Royal Commissioners was read by Prince Albert as Presi
dent, which being replied to by the Queen, the blessing of the Almighty was invoked upon the
Tlu Tmnsept ./ the ExhU'ition of lS^i, from tue .Xortk i,id,.
undertaking by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and "the ceremonies terminated with the per-
formance of the Hallelujah Chorus by the united choirs of the Chapel Royal, St. Paul's,
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
Westminster Abbey, and St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The inauguration was one of the
most imposing sights that had ever been witnessed in Great Britain. Our engraving gives a
view of the building on the south side, extending east and west, and showing the main
entrance at the great transept.
In appearance it called to mind one of the old, vast cathedrals, designed, however, in a
new style of architecture; not massive, dark, and sombre, but light, graceful, airy, and almost
fairy-like in its proportions, — built as if in a night by the touch of a wand, — a true " Crystal
Palace," and a noble example of the use of our modern material — iron — for building purposes.
It was obvious that nothing more suitable could have been designed, and that the modern
adaptation of one of the oldest architectural ideas — a great rectangular cruciform structure
with nave and transepts — was just what was desired, possessing many more of the require-
ments of a building intended for industrial exhibitions than would appear at first glance. The
old cathedral was a place for great ceremonials, for processions, and for exhibitions, in one
sense of the word ; its walls were covered with pictures and sculpture, and its windows filled
with richly stained glass. Extending over a vast area, at the same time it had a grand central
point of attraction, visible from all parts, and from which all parts were visible. These advan-
tages were just what was required in an exhibition building, and the fact has been acknowl-
edged over and over again in succeeding exhibitions. It will be seen, further on, that in our
exhibition building the same ideas have been carried out, and that the building of 185 1 has
really been the type for all the most successful buildings erected since.
Fergusson characterized this building as belonging to a new style of architecture, which
might be called the " Ferro- Vitreous Style," and states that " no incident in the history of
architecture was so felicitous as Sir Joseph Paxton's suggestion." "At a time when men were
puzzling themselves over domes to rival the Pantheon, or halls to surpass those of the Baths of
Caracalla, it was wonderful that a man could be found to suggest a thing that had no other merit
than being the best, and, indeed, the only thing then known which would answer the pur-
pose."
The light appearance of this structure was so strongly marked that many persons, unedu-
cated as to the effect which should be produced on the eye by an iron and glass construction
on such a large scale, expressed grave doubts as to its stability. To satisfy these doubts in
the public mind, extensive experiments were carried out during the progress of the work, and
also after its completion, in the presence of the Queen, Prince Albert, and a number of scien-
tific men, by means of large numbers of workmen, crowding them on the platforms, and
moving them back and forth, and also by means of companies of troops, arranging them in
close order and marching them on the floors. Frames holding cannon-balls were also con-
structed and drawn over the floor, and the results of all these experiments were such as to en-
tirely satisfy every one that the building was properly planned and constructed for its pur-
poses.
Passing into the building at the west end, we enter a grand nave 72 feet wide, 1848 feet
long, and 64 feet to the roof, crossed by a noble transept of the same width, but crowned by
a semi-circular vault, increasing its height to 104 feet at the centre. On each side of the nave
and transept a series of aisles spread out the building to a total width of 456 feet, the entire
area covered being 772,784 square feet, and, with the addition of the galleries, making a total
exhibition space of 989,884 square feet. The quantities of materials in the structure were
as follows : —
Cast iron, 3,500 tons ; Glass, 896,000 superficial feet, or 400 tons ;
Wrought iron, 550 tons ; Wood, 600,000 cubic feet ;
and the total cost was about ;$8so,000; the building remaining the property of the contractors
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
after the exhibition was over. The late Mr. Owen Jones, so well known for his taste in art
ornamentation, was entrusted with the decoration of this palace, and the result fully justified
the trust reposed in him, and met wich very general approval.
It is said that, in designing the structure, the magnificent transept, with its semi-circular
roof, was suggested in consequence of a desire to retain several lofty trees which were on the
grounds. Bo that as it may, the trees were retained, and we are glad to be able to give an
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
engraving showing the beautiful effect thereby produced. These enclosed trees made a
marked feature in the exhibition.
The United States department was quite well represented, — bearing in mind the compara-
tively small advances which this country had made, at that time, in the higher departments
of art manufacture, — and we furnish a view of this department as it appeared. Powers exhibited
his celebrated " Greek Slave," shown in the foreground of the picture, of which we believe
there are several originals in existence, — one at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. He
also exhibited his " Fisher Boy," a work in every way worthy of the artist, and seen to the
right of the " Greek Slave." The piano, on the right, was exhibited by Messrs. Nunn & Clark,
of New York. Messrs. Chickering, of Boston, also exhibited a very fine instrument, and even
at that time they had obtained a high reputation for power and brilliancy of tone, among
European professors. Cornelius & Co., of Philadelphia, exhibited two elegant examples of
gas chandeliers, which were very much admired. Some handsome carriages were shown; our
celebrated Watson, of Philadelphia, being among the exhibitors. The exhibition of agricul-
tural implements and raw materials was very creditable.
We also present a view of the interior of the transept from the south side, which will aid
in giving the reader some idea of the structure and its exhibits. In the centre is seen the
curious glass fountain, contributed by the Messrs. Osier, of Birmingham, which attracted so
much attention by the novelty of its design, its lightness, and its beauty. Passing on through
the building, the visitor came into contact with objects from India, Africa, Asia, the West
Indies, and all quarters of the globe ; articles of sculpture, textile fabrics, modern and medi-
aeval brass and iron work, animal and mineral products, machinery, works of utility and those
of ornament — everything that could furnish delight to man or add to his comfort : a vast col-
lection, exemplifying the great progress which civilization had wrought in the world by the
skill of man adapting the materials of nature to his own use.
The exhibition of 1851 was in every way a great success. Upwards 01 $200,000 had been
received from the sale of season tickets alone before the opening. During the six months
that it remained open, from May to October inclusive, the average daily numberof visitors was
43,536; the total number for the whole time was 6,170,000, and the amount of receipts, ;g2,625,
535 ; there being a balance of 1^750,000 in the hands of the Commissioners after all expenses
were paid. The exhibitors, coming from all parts of the world, amounted to more than 17,000.
The unique style and acknowledged beauty of this magnificent edifice — the first of its kind
— and the delightful recollections connected with its use, combined to preserve it from destruc-
tion ; and visitors now see the same building, more permanently constructed in a modified and
much improved form, at Sydenham, as one of the great pleasure resorts of London. Of those
who have been abroad, who does not remember Sydenham? — the beautiful grounds laid out
with shrubbery, walks, lakes, and fountains, for the special purpose of making the whole as
attractive as possible ; the splendid band in constant attendance, the delightful concerts,
amusements of all kinds in the most interesting variety, and the vast crowds, wandering about
and so thoroughly enjoying themselves. Special excursions are made up, numbering some-
times thousands of people, for a happy day at the Crystal Palace, — a rest from the bustle and
turmoil of the city, adding renewed vigor to the tired body to struggle in the battle of life.
It is not alone, however, as a pleasure resort, but also as a place of education for the masses,
that Sydenham Crystal Palace is worthy of note. Portions of the building are fitted up to
represent the styles of architecture of different periods of the world's history, such as the
Pompeian Court, the Italian Court, the Renaissance Court, the English Mediaeval Court,
&c. Another portion contains copies of the works of great sculptors of ancient and
modern times, and of paintings of great artists, and down by the lake in the gardens,
one finds models, life-size, of the pre-historic animals of the ancient world.
HISTORICAL IXTRODUCriON.
KiiUSliiiiiiiiiiiii iiiUniiiiiiijii i
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaf •!•• mmi^ji^^^m m w iiii^^tiiiiaiiiii
The success attending this exhibition stimulated other countries in efforts to have some-
thing of the same kind. Exhibitions, more or less local in character, were projected and held
in the large manufacturing towns throughout the British Empire, — at Cork, Dublin, Man-
chester, &c.
That at Dublin, in 1853, under the auspices of the Royal Dublin Society, which had pre-
viously had triennial exhibitions, was the result of a proposition made to the Society by Mr.
William Dargan, a well-known contractor, providing a certain fund for the exhibition under
certain conditions; and, although international in its features, was not practically as entirely so as
the exhibition of 185 1. The building consist-
ed of five large, parallel, arched and dome-
roofed halls. The great central hall was
longer, as lofty, and one-fourth wider than
the transept of the Crystal Palace of 1 851,
Miin Exhibition BuUdmg, 1853. ^cing 425 feet in length by loo feet in
breadth and 105 feet in height, with vaulted
roof and semi-circular domed ends. We give an elevation of this building, which shows
very clearly its general design.
The erection commenced August i8th, 1852, and the exhibition was opened by the Irish Vice-
roy, May 1 2th 1853, the building occupying in construction about two hundred working days.
The interior effect was spacious and beautiful, and the decoration, notwithstanding the
small sum appropriated for it, quite effective,— the prevailing tints being light blues, delicate
buffs, and deep ultramarine, with white and red used very sparingly. The columns of the
central hall were dark blue, and the skeleton frame of the building was marked out and em-
phasized by dark and heavy tones of color. The total area covered was 265,000 superficial
feet, costing, per square foot, about five-sixths of that of the building of 185 1, but the
exhibition itself was not a financial success. The collection of art productions was large and
particularly fine, — the works coming principally from Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, and
France; and the method of lighting the picture gallery was considered very effective, and the
best that had been as yet devised.
The most interesting of all the exhibits was the collection of Irish Antiquities, which was
very large and arranged with admirable skill, forming something at once valuable and unique.
At the close of the exhibition the building was torn down and sold. The materials, however,
did not realize more than one-fourth the amount of their valuation; the unwieldy forms of the
curved parts being so badly adapted for future use, and the timbers being so injured by nails
and the summer heat, and so shattered in taking apart, that very few portions w&rc ever
again erected. The result demonstrated two facts: first the expensiveness of temporary build-
ings for such purposes, and secondly the great increase produced in the cost by the introduc-
tion of curvilinear work.
This same year an International Exhibition was also held in the City of New York under
the organization of a few influential citizens, as a joint stock company, clothed with sufficient
powers by legislation to carr>' out the objects proposed. This exhibition had in view the
comparison of the productions of America with those of other countries, with the object of
the promotion of her advancement, it being acknowledged that she had more to gain by such
comparison than any other of the great nations of the world. It was liberally assisted by
contributions of exhibits from European manufacturers and artists, but misfortune seems to
have attended it from the beginning.
It labored under the great disadvantage of professing to be a national undertaking, without
receiving support in any way from the government; of exposing itself to the imputation of
being a private speculation under the name of a patriotic movement, and was viewed with
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
jealous feelings by many of the great cities of the Union. Great injustice may have been
done to the exhibition and its promoters, but still the effect of these adverse influences was
perceptible. Although recognized in a semi-official way by the President, and by some of
the foreign powers, it cannot be said to have been by any means a success, many exhibit-
' ors suffering serious loss. These conse-
quences seem to be inherent at the outset
of any great international exhibition that
may be held here, from the very nature of
our political institutions. Our present ex-
hibition has had its difficulties in this respect.
How nobly it has triumphed over all, its
record will show. The country is so large,
and the interests of the different portions
so various, that it requires an anniver-
sary like the Centennial to unite all to- Crystal PaUce. New Wnk. ,8^3.
gether in a common celebration.
The opening, although advertised to be early in June, did not take place until the middle
of July, in the midst of our hot season ; President Pierce formally taking part in the exercises,
in the presence of six commissioners of Great Britain, those of many other foreign govern-
ments, and all the heads of the various State departments.
The building was erected from designs furnished in competition by Messrs. Carstensen and
Gildmeister ; the consulting and executive engineers and architects appointed to carry out
the plans being Mr. C. E. Detmold, Mr. Horatio Allen, and Mr. Edmund Henry. Although
much smaller than the exhibition building of 1 851, and possessing considerable originality
in architectural effect and constructive detail, it was based upon the same general principles
of construction in glass and iron, then so novel, and considered so appropriate for the pur-
pose. Located upon an unfavorable piece of ground, 445 by 455 feet in extent, an octagonal
form of building was adopted, changing at the height of twenty-four feet to a Greek Cross
with low roofs in the four corners, and crowned by a dome at the centre. The length of
each arm of the cross was three hundred and sixty-five feet, five inches, and the width, one
hundred and forty-nine feet, five inches. On one side of the building was placed a rectangular,
one story annexe, for machinery in motion. The plans which we give, of the ground-floor
and galleries, will sufficiently explain the mode of construction. The columns indicated on
these plans were placed twenty-seven feet apart each way ; there being two principal avenues
or naves, forty-one feet, five inches wide, with side aisles and galleries fifty-four feet wide. The
dome was one hundred feet in diameter, with a height from the ground-floor to the springing
of nearly seventy feet, and to the crown of the arch of one hundred and twenty-three feet,
being at that time, the largest dome erected in this country.
The roofs of the building, including the dome, were covered with white pine sheathing
boards and tinned, and light was communicated to the interior by the glass construction of
the main walls, and by the clerestories of the main avenues and dome. The dome above
the clerestory contained thirty-two ornamental windows of stained glass, decorated with the
arms of the Union and of the several States, forming quite a conspicuous feature of the
interior effect. The exterior walls were constructed of cast-iron framing and panel work,
filled in with glazed sash, — the glass used being one-eighth inch thick, enameled, and of
American manufacture.
Octagonal turrets were placed at the angles of the building, eight feet in diameter, and
seventy-six feet high, containing circular stairways for the private use of the officers and
employees of the exhibition. The lower floor was connected with the galleries by twelve
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
stairways, one each side of the four main entrances and four under the dome,— the latter
being in reahty double stairways with a common half landing.
The decoration of the building
J/w,.:--^-y-^^-'^K'^yyy^<y^,w^.^^^^y--^^^'------^ -^ was Considered particularly fine,
it having been placed in the hands
of Mr. Henry Greenough of Cam-
bridge, near Boston, Massachusetts,
excepting only the interior of the
dome, which was designed by Signor
Monte Lilla. Mr. ' Greenough
started out with the very correct
assumption, that the only true
method was to ornament the con-
structive details, following and
bringing out the lines therein in-
dicated, without attempting to con-
ceal them by useless and unmeaning
decoration.
With the exception of the ceiling
of one of the lower corner roofs,
and the interior of the dome, which
were executed in tempera on canvas,
the whole of the exterior and in-
terior work was in white lead in oil,
brought to the various tints desired
York Ex/tilntion, 1SS3.
by the admixture of various colors.
Mr. Greenough has given the following rules, to which he states that he mainly adhered
in working up the design, and as
they were productive of such ex-
cellent results, and are so generally
applicable, we take the liberty of
quoting them : —
" I. Decoration should in all cases
be subordinate to construction. It
may be employed to heighten or
give additional value to architectural
beauties, but should never counter-
feit them. Being in the nature of
an accompaniment, it should keep
in modest accordance with the air,
and not drown it with impertinent
embellishment. Coloring, to be
employed with good effect on a
building, should resemble the dra-
pery of the antique sculptures, which,
displaying between its folds the forms
Caiiery Plan. Ne.o York ExhiiiHov. 1853. beneath, serves rather to enhance
than to conceal their beauty.
'II. All features of main construction should have one prevailing tint, enriched occasionally
INTERNA TIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
by the harmonious contrasts of that color. All secondary, or auxiliary construction, may
be decorated by the employment of a richer variety of the principal color. This mode of
treatment is suggested by the distinction which nature has made between the coloring of the
trunk, branches, twigs, and leaves of trees.
"III. The prevailing color of the ceilings should be sky-blue, thus borrowing from nature
the covering which she has placed over our heads. Monotony may be prevented by the
introduction of orange (the natural complement of blue), garnet and vermilion, in such
quantities only as may be necessary to recall these colors employed elsewhere
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
" IV. Rich and brilliant tints should occur in small quantities, and be employed to attract
the eye to the articulations and noble portions of the members, rather than to the members
themselves. As in the human figure, variety of color and form is most displayed in the
extremities and joints, to which the broader style of the limbs and trunk serve as a foil, so
in buildings, the bases and capitals of columns, brackets of arches, and the frame-work of
panels, would seem legitimate objects for the reception of rich coloring. Occurring at fixed
numerical distances, they are measured out in equal proportions as to space, and afford also
a due quantity of brilliant and stimulating tints, — sufficient to enliven the large proportion
of mild color, so essential to a general effect of quiet and repose.
"V. All natural beauty of color existing in any material, should, if possible, be brought
into play, by using that color itself, instead of covering it with paint of another hue.
" VI. The leading feature of beauty in the Crystal Palace, being that of proportion and
geometrical harmony, rather than elaboration of detail, all ornament introduced should be
of the same character, mere geometrical outlines and forms, to the exclusion of classical
decoration, the characteristic of which is an imitation of the organization of foliage.
"VII. White should be used in large quantities in all cases of simple compositions, not
only to give value, by contrast, to the few colors employed, but to reflect light and cheerfulness
to the work."
The appearance of the building on its e.vterior was a light-colored bronze or olive tint, with
the purely ornamental features enriched by gilding. The ceilings and dome of the interior
had the ground-work of a sky-blue, producing loftiness and airiness, the constructive framing
being painted of a rich buff or cream color, harmonizing with the blue and throwing a
cheerful tint of sunshine over the whole. These prevailing colors were relieved by the
judicious use of the positive Colors, red, blue, and yellow, in their several tints of vermilion,
garnet, and orange, and in certain parts by gold.
The area covered by the first floor was 157,195 square feet, and by the galleries, 92,496
square feet, making a total floor space of 249,692 square feet, or about 5^^ acres, and the
quantities of material used in the structure amounted to 300 tons of wrought iron, 1500 tons
of cast, 55,000 square feet of glass, and 750,000 feet, board-measure, of timber.
We give an exterior and also an interior view
of the building, which has now passed away from
sight forever, having been entirely destroyed by fire
in 1858.
We also present an engraving of the Equestrian
Statue of Washington by Baron Marochetti, the
largest work shown at this exhibition, and located
in a prominent position immediately under the dome.
The artist was an Italian sculptor of note, born in
Turin, in 1805, long resident in France, and who
died in 1S67, in London, where he had removed on
the outbreak of the French Revolution, in 1848.
From the criticisms n:ade on this statue at the time,
we should judge that its merit lay only in its size,
being two and a half times that of life, and that it
was lacking in all the fine attributes of a first-class
work of art.
In the Mechanical Department, the exhibits of the United States were, as might have
been expected, exceedingly creditable. The high price paid for labor in this country has
necessitated the invention of machinery to supersede it, to a much greater extent than in
Marochelti s statue of General Washington.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
foreign countries, and the result of this is always apparent, — our machines, as a general thing,
being more numerous, of better quality, and more varied in their application than those from
abroad. The sewing machine was comparatively a new invention at this time, there being
in the exhibition of 185 i only three, — one from France, for sewing sacks, one from America,
and one from England. At this exhibition of 1853, there were not less than ten varieties
by American inventors alone; some using a double and some a single thread, and some
adapted to special purposes, as for sewing cloth, leather, etc.
The United States Coast Survey Department made an exhibit of its various instruments,
and showed the results of its labors by means of maps, charts, etc., evincing the great pro-
gress and honorable position which this country had attained, even more than twenty years
ago, in this work.
Gas was supplied to the building primarily for policing purposes only; but it was afterwards
arranged to open the building on certain evenings to visitors, and the effect of the interior,
when fully illuminated, especially the dome, was exceedingly grand.
France, encouraged by the great success of the London exhibition of 1851, — regretting,
perhaps, the opportunity which she lost in 1849, of setting the example of the international
feature in exhibitions, and conscious that the exclusive or merely national system which she
had previously adopted, would, if continued, be detrimental to the best interests of herself,
and contrary to the national pride of her people, — determined to hold an International
Exhibition in 1855.
While she had little to fear in the way of competition in those specialties for which she
had so long been famous, she also knew that, by bringing before her people those productions
of human skill more especially adapted to the necessities of mankind, and which heretofore
had received so little attention in France, she would benefit her country immensely. The re-
sult would be that the French would either improve their own methods of production or
make such arrangements by more extensive commercial relations as would insure future
supply from those countries best adapted to furnish it.
The Emperor had determined, as early as March, 1852, upon the erection of a large per-
manent building in the great square of the Champs Elysees, for the purposes of national
expositions, and also to be available for great public ceremonies and civil or military fetes.
This building, with temporary additions, it was decided to use for the Universal Exposition
of 1855.
The site adopted was authorized by the prefect of the Seine to be given over to the State
in Ju'y, 1852, and a public company was organized in August of the same year, with
M. Ardoin at its head, as " concessionaires " for the erection of the building — the concession
to last for thirty-five years, and the receipts from expositions to produce the return for the re-
quired outlay of capital.
The buildings for this exposition afford to us an excellent example of the manner in which
the French undertook the construction of a permanent building in connection with a great in-
ternational exposition, and might serve, in some respects, as a precedent for our Memorial Hall.
The first design was prepared by MM. Viel and Desjardins, but it was found to involve
great expense in the construction, and an amount of work so immense that it could not pos-
sibly be completed by the time fixed upon for the opening. At last, in December 1852, a
contract was entered into, by MM. York et Cie. with M. Ardoin et Cie., for the construction
of a building — all the work except the decorative painting and sculpture to be completed
by a fixed day for a fixed sum, — the contractors to be at liberty to make any alterations in
the design they desired, under the conditions that no change was to be made either in " the
dimensions, the solidity, or the artistic aspect of the building, considered as a national mon-
ument."
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
The contractors appointed M. Barrault, Chief Engineer to the Palace, and M. Cendrier,
Architect to the Lyons Railway, to prepare the modified design, assisted by MM. Bridel and
Villain. M. Viel, one of the authors of the original design, was given charge of the masonry.
M.iui Enlrance. InUrnatumal ExhiHtum. Pjris. /SjS-
The adopted design was very similar, in general appearance, to the original of MM. Viel
find Desjardins.
Although work was commenced immediately, it advanced but slowly — very little being
accomplished before February, 1854, and the opening of the Exposition, which was to have
been on the 1st of May, 1855, did not take place until the 15th of the same month.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
The principal edifice, now known as the " Palais de I'lndustrie," and still in use for national
exhibition purposes, was a rectangular building, eight hundred and twenty feet long by three
hundred and sixty feet wide, exclusive of the central and end projections, containing entrances
and stairways, and covered eight acres of ground. It was built of stone, and quite ornamental
in appearance, — the main exhibition hall being spanned by a central arched roof of one hundred
and fifty-seven feet, with two side arches of seventy-eight and a half feet each, parallel to the
centre one ; and two of the same span running transversely at the ends, and beyond its gables.
At the corners these latter connected by hips and ridges, leaving a clear space underneath.
The covering of a large portion of these roofs (about one-third) was roughened glass, which,
together with great defects in ventilation, appears to have been a serious mistake in the hot
summer climate of Paris — great inconvenience being experienced in consequence, and it being
necessary to resort to the expedient of muslin screens. We present an engraving of the front
entrance on the Champs Elysees, which will give the reader an idea of the style of architecture
adopted.
The structure, as a whole, was framed of iron, designed to stand by itself without side-
walls or anything except the base upon which it rested. The exterior walls were placed
around this, being of ashlar masonry, designed in a simple, bold style, encasing and conceal-
ing the framed structure within, but having openings for the admission of light.
Our engraving does not give a complete idea of the building, as it comprises only the
central entrance of about two hundred and fifty feet, whereas the total length, formed by ex-
tensions on each side of this, amounted to over nine hundred feet. The great central roof,
although possessing some defects, was, at that period, the noblest specimen of arched roof
that had yet been erected, excelling in magnitude, dignity, and true principles of construction.
Although Great Britain had then some bold specimens of work, they would not admit of
comparison with this.
Fergusson, in giving a criticism on this building, states that the greatest defect in the ex-
hibition building of 185 1 was its want of solidity, "and that appearance of permanence and
durability indispensable to make it really architectural in the strict meaning of the word."
He was of opinion that "the only mode of really overcoming this defect was, probably, by the
introduction of a third material. Stone was not quite suitable for this purpose — being too
solid and uniform," and "the designers of the Palais d'Industrie seem to have thought so also,
as, instead of trying to amalgamate the two elements at their command, they were content to
hide their crystal palace in an envelope of masonry, which would have served equally well for
a picture gallery, a concert room, or even for a palace." "Nowhere was the internal arrange-
ment of the building expressed or even suggested on the outside, and the consequence was
that, however beautiful either of the parts might be separately, the design was a failure as a
whole."
The other buildings attached to this exhibition were temporary in character, and were as
follows : — a circular building, known as the panorama, in the rear of the permanent building,
three hundred and thirty feet in diameter, and covering about two acres ; an annexe for
machinery, 4,000 feet long by 85 feet wide, covering 7^ acres ; and a palace for fine arts, lo-
cated at a considerable distance from the permanent building and covering 4 acres. The total
space covered, including the gallery floors, which we have not considered in giving the several
areas, amounted to 29 acres, and the exterior ground devoted to exposition purposes to 6
acres additional, the entire spate being greater than used in any previous exhibition. The
Panorama, which was a pet of the Prince Napoleon and one of the most attractive spots of
the exhibition, containing the exhibits of the products of the French Imperial manufactories,
the "Buffet" being also established here, and was a circle of 165 feet diameter; and around
this a circular gallery was constructed of timber, in three spans, roofed with sheet zinc and
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
glazed with skylights, increasing the building to the total diameter of 300 feet previously
given, and adding some 97,000 square feet to the exhibition in the short space of thirty days
from the time that it was first decided upon. A covered passage connected it on the north
with the Palais de I'lndustrie, and on the south it communicated with the extensive machinery
annexe by a covered lattice bridge of three spans, thrown over the Chaussee du Cours la
Reine, covered with glass and approached at each end by grand flights of steps. The ma-
chinery annexe was built of timber and iron in combination, with masonry foundation, — the
end portions of the building being solid blocks of timber, brick and plaster, and presenting
quite an imposing appearance. The length of this building was entirely too great, compared
with its span, to obtain any good interior effect.
Far greater prominence was given at this exhibition to the Fine Art Department than had
ever been previously done. A special building for this purpose was isolated from all the
others — as much for greater safety to its valuable contents from fire as by the necessity of
the site — and it contained, in addition to a great hall for paintings of 462 by 198 feet, a dis-
tinct hall for sculpture of 215 by 72 feet, together with a refreshment department and the
necessary store-rooms and offices. It was a timber structure covered with zinc and glass,
and lighted from the roof, with an interior ceiling of glass which tempered the light, pro-
tected the works of art from leakage, and gave much better opportunities for ventilation than
in previous arrangements. The hanging or wall surfaces were very much increased by
numerous screens rising from the floor.
The number of exhibitors was nearly 21,000, — France contributing about one-half, and
occupying 13^ acres, while Great Britain had 454^ ; Germany, i ^ ; Austria, i ^ ; Belgium, i ;
Switzerland, one-half acre ; and the United States, one-third acre ; the balance of the coun-
tries exhibiting decreasing to quite small spaces, and the Republic of Dominica having only
two metres. The total cost of the buildings was about $3,373,300.
The Exhibition was closed by the Emperor in person, on the 15th of November, with
considerable pomp and ceremonial, and with the distribution of the honors and awards, which
were as follows: — for the Industrial Department, 112 grand medals of honor, 252 medals of
honor, 2,300 medals of the first class, 3,900 of the second class, and 4,000 honorable mentions ;
and for the Fine Art Department, 40 decorations of the Legion of Honor, 16 medals of honor
voted by the Jury, 67 medals of the first class, 87 of the second class, "jj of the third class,
and 222 honorable mentions. The main central nave of the building was fitted up and ar-
ranged for the ceremony by removing all exhibits and placing a throne on one side, with a
grand central platform, the remaining space being covered with seats rising one above the
other, and forming — with the galleries — a vast amphitheatre from which the assembled multi-
tude gazed down upon the gorgeous and exciting spectacle. With such a wonderful advance
as shown by this exhibition from the small beginning of 1798, France might well be proud.
Here, as before, were found the exquisite tapestries of the Gobelins and of Beauvais, improved
and brought to the utmost perfection that art and science combined could make them, —
the delicate tints so completely wrought and graded, each into its proper place, with
so much mechanical dexterity and artistic skill, that it was difficult to decide whether
the original or the copy was most to be admired, — the great softness and perfection of
tone and color deciding in favor of the latter in almost every case. Also, here again,
were exhibited the porcelain productions of the famous manufactory of Sevres, excelling all
competitors, and fairly astonishing the visitor with the capabilities of the material. The chef-
d'wiivre was a vase commemorative of the great exhibition of 185 1. It was Roman in form,
ornamented with antique scrolls in white and gold in low relief, upon an Indian red ground.
A collar or fillet supported the body upon a short shaft, which was broken by four masks
representing Asia, Africa, Europe, and America ; and the body itself was decorated with de-
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
tached groups of figures proceeding from the back to the front, where Peace was represented
as enthroned, with Plenty on one side and Justice on the other. The groups to the left were
formed of figures symbolic of England and her colonies, Russia, the United States of America,
and China ; while those to the right represented France, Belgium, Austria, Prussia, Spain,
Portugal, and Turkey. At the back, and dividing the groups, was a figure ingeniously posed
in the attitude of sending them on their mission. Olive-leaves in bronze, with gilt fruit, deco-
rated the upper curve of the body and neck, and the words " Abondancc" "Concorde^'
"Eqiiite," were inscribed above the whole.
Savonniere, also, was again represented by her carpets ; but, although the work on them
was extraordinary and, in one sense, perfection, yet the designs were wanting in adaptation to
the true purposes for which carpets are intended, — having too much color, too large forms,
and too much relief, or, in other words, not showing an improvement in taste which one would
have been led to expect from the advance in other departments.
In the Agricultural Department, under the specialty of Reaping Machines, the United
States was in the front rank, — exhibiting a number of very efficient machines. In the trials
which were made, that of M'Cormick excelled all others from all countries, — performing the
most work in the shortest time, and doing it in the most thorough manner, " evincing
much greater perfection in its operations than any of the others whose powers were brought
to the test."
In the Machinery Department, the Ribbon Saw — now so extensively used for scroll-sawing
— was among the novelties.
The Paris Exhibition of 1855 differed from all previous ones in the "extent of its
productions, the variety of its objects, and the facilities afforded for the disposal of the
exhibited articles at a fair market-price, — conditions of great value to the exhibitors, in the
immense selection submitted to view." It was really "an immense bazaar, from which might
be selected every description of manufacture and almost every kind of produce."
"Nothing surprised the observer more forcibly than the beauty and the extent of the
articles offered for inspection, and the great skill by which such vast and varied forms of
manufacture were produced."
These exhibitions all produced their good results, and in a very marked degree. Fairbairn
very truly says of the exhibitions of 1851 and 1855, that "they have shown to the world in
every department of industry and of practical science, wherein consists the prosperity of
nations, and the happiness of mankind. They have shown how all materials, whether derived
from the forest, the field, or the mine, may be turned to purposes of utility; how the labor
of man may be multiplied a thousand-fold ; how the fruits of the earth may be cultivated
and gathered in for man's necessities; and how works of art may be elaborated to increase
the happiness and enjoyment of his existence." " All these things were exhibited on a scale
commensurate with the greatness of an undertaking so vast in extent, so varied in form, and
so characteristic of all the duties and wants of human existence, as to elicit the admiration
and praise of astonished multitudes from every country of the civilized world."
In the year 1857, Manchester, England, held an exhibition of Fine Art and Fine Art
Manufacture, more particularly confined to the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom, — plans
being advertised for in May, 1856, with the conditions that the building must be fire-proof,
must cover about 135,000 square feet, or a little over three acres, at a total cost of not more
than ^125,000, and must be capable of erection within six months.
The design and proposal of Me.ssrs. C. D. Young & Co., of Edinburgh, constructors of
corrugated iron buildings, was accepted for the sum of ^122,500, the building to be completed
by January 1st, 1857, under penalties for delays beyond the 15th of that month. An archi-
tect (Mr. Salomons) was appointed- to confer with the contractors and modify the design in
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
some respects, so as to improve the architectural effect, if possible, without material increase
of cost, and the improved plan, of which we furnish a front elevation, was erected.
The building, in general plan, was a parallelogram, 700 by 200 feet, covered by five roofs
running in the direction of the length of the building, the centre and two outer roofs being
semicircular. The former was 56 feet span, and the two latter each 45 feet. The intermediate
roofs were of the ordinary triangular construction, and each 24 feet span. A transept crossed
Industrial and Fine Art Exhibition. Manchester, iS;j.
the building at a distance of 460 feet from the main-entrance end, consisting of a semicircular
span of 56 feet, and two side spans of 24 feet each, exactly the same as the centre portion of
the main roof, and forming a total width of 104 feet. The structure was supported by cast-
iron columns, and the centre arch had a height of 65 feet, the two side arches 48 feet, and the
intermediate spans 24 feet. The outside covering was corrugated iron, the sheets being fitted
into wave-line recesses in the cast-iron columns without bolts or rivets, and the inner walls
were of wood.
The walls and roofs were lined internally with boards, upon which was stretched muslin,
and on the latter ornamental paper decoration was placed, the work being under the direction
of Mr. Grace, of London. The side-walls of the great halls were a deep maroon, the pan-
eled surface of the roof a warm grayish tint, the whole being relieved by lines and tracery
of red and white, and the columns and metal work, bronze with rivet heads, etc., picked out
in gold.
The sides of the ribs of the roof were decorated in vermilion on a soft cream-colored
ground. The walls of the picture-galleries were of a sage green, with the roof a warm gray,
and the border a cream color. The work was considered a remarkable success, combining
great repose and beauty.
The facade of the building, up to the springing of the arches, was built of red and white
brick, and the ends of the semicircular roofs above were filled in with ornamental work in
wood, iron, and glass. Skylights, having an opening of about one-third the span, extended
the whole length of each roof and afforded a most excellent light, especially for the Fine Art
Department, but the glass required screening with muslin during the summer months. It
seems to be a great desideratum in all large picture-galleries to have the lighting so arranged
that, by means of some sort of movable screen or velabrum, it may easily be increased or
diminished as necessity requires. The quantity of light at our service varies so much at dif-
ferent periods of the year, and, indeed, at different times of the day, that it is almost impos-
sible to do the lighting to perfection without some such arrangement, — a matter which, as in
this case, is too often neglected. The interior effect of the central arched roof — which was
constructed entirely open, without any ties or braces to interfere with the line of vision — was
exceedingly light and elegant. The total floor space for exhibition purposes was increased by
means of galleries, until it amounted to 171,000 square feet.
The Art Treasures included the works of the old masters — commencing with the oldest
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
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Exhibition, Florence, iSbi.
specimens that could be obtained — and were intended to show the gradual progress in Art
from the earliest epoch, on through the periods of Titian, Correggio, and Rubens, up to the
modern schools of Art, especially those of England.
Italy — with its principalities freed from the trammels and tyranny of a foreign yoke, and
united into one grand nation — resolved upon holding an exhibition at Florence in 1861, for
the purpose, perhaps, of inaugurating its new birth, and taking its place among the kingdoms
of Europe. Previous exhibitions had
been held in various parts of Italy —
some at a remote period — but they
partook more of the nature of agricul-
tural exhibitions. There had also been
one at Naples some years before, but this
e.xhibition, now held, was far superior
to any that preceded it, and forming,
as it did, an exceedingly attractive
display of Italian industrial, fine art,
and agricultural products, it seems
singular that it did not attract the attention from abroad that its importance deserved.
The classification adopted was based upon that of London and Paris, but more simplified.
It was divided into four great departments, — Industrial, Fine Arts, Agricultural, and Horti-
cultural. The main building consisted of a rectangular front portion, built of masonry, as a
permanent construction, with a great octagonal building in the rear, covering an interior
garden. Into this main building the industrial and a portion of the fine art departments were
placed, a detached building containing the balance of the latter. The agricultural department
was accommodated in large temporary buildings, and the horticultural display took place in
hot-houses and in the gardens sur-
rounding the exhibition.
We present both exterior and inte-
rior views of the permanent portion of
the main building. The display of the
peculiar agricultural products of north-
ern and central Italy was particularly
rich, and the fine art collection could
not have been otherwise than excel-
lent.
It is to be hoped that Italy — once
the centre of the arts and luxuries of
the civilized world, and now again rap-
idly taking her position — will, before long, give another exhibition, showing her progress
since she has become united under one head, and — this time — in Rome, where the ancient
and modern may be brought face to face, and the faded magnificence of the eternal city seen
in contrast with the development and progress of industrial art of the present time.
The advantages which England had experienced from the Exhibition of 185 1, had been
very great. Before that time, very little had been accomplished in the department of art in-
dustry. In fine arts, such men as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hogarth, Hayman, and Wilson,
had achieved great reputation. Gibbons, Wedgewood and others had also been celebrated in
their several specialties. These men were, however, all artists, working for themselves, not
manufacturers, and their arts died with them. They promulgated no fixed principles and
nothing was left to their successors. Art was not imbued into the masses. England was con-
InUrior of Exhibition, Florence, iS6i.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
tent with styles of art industry that would have shamed a South Sea Islander, and not only
was she making no progress, but there was, at one time, an actual deterioration in public taste.
She had discovered that, with the mechanical skill and the great producing capabilities which
she possessed, she could rapidly accumulate wealth without taking time to attend to points of
artistic design, and, in truth it may be said, that the term " industrial art" was really unknown
in England before 1832.
Then she awoke to the fact that the artistic ability of France and the Continent was suc-
cessfully competing with her mechanical superiority in the markets of the world, and she was
obliged, in self-defence, to take measures to retain her supremacy. Art schools were accord-
ingly established, and some efforts made to bring the productions of the country up towards
the high standard to which the Continental manufacturers had already arrived. But the great
difficulty with these schools was the want of practicability in their management. Those
employed as teachers were artists, having sufficient influence to give them position, not prac-
tical men, and, if an appointment was to be made, it was always a question of blood, not brains.
A student was taught not to think and study out a design for himself, but to copy from the
designs of others ; to reproduce from the French — which was considered the highest standard
of taste — and not to originate. The result was an apathy and want of spirit, and, of course,
a failure.
On the Continent, practical men were placed to teach practical subjects. Watchmakers
were the professors in schools of design for watches. Men of the stamp of Quintin Metsys,
who could execute as well as design, were the teachers; and, when in the Exhibition of 185 1,
England came face to face with the work of such men, the result showed her defects. She
became aware that the course she had pursued was not the correct one, and she was even in a
worse position, in some respects, than if she had never made any attempts — being obliged not
only to commence at the beginning, but also to eradicate the false teaching which her artizans
had already received. What was intended as a great display became, in fact, a great teacher,
and the improvement in consequence was very marked. The schools of art were reconstructed
and improved; a collection of art objects made by purchase from the exhibits of the great
exhibition, forming the nucleus of the present Kensington Museum, and a strong progressive
movement followed, producing great effects.
Among the direct results were reduced tariffs, increased postal facilities, and a vast increase
of industrial prosperity, adding greatly to the commerce of the countr>'. It was but natural,
therefore, that England, conscious of the great advantages accruing from this Exhibition of
185 I, and seeing also the good results of the French Exposition of 1855, and of her own
local exhibitions, should desire, in time, a second great international e.Khibition ; and this desire
culminated in the London Exhibition of the Art Works of All Nations of 1862.
On the 14th of March, i860, a Charter of Incorporation was issued by the Queen to
Royal Commissioners for this e.xhibition, defining their duties and investing them with full
powers, — the Prince Consort being made President of this Commission. It was decided, in
anticipation, to test the popularity of the undertaking by public subscriptions, and a Guarantee
Fund of 51,250,000 was formed with a rapidity beyond all expectation, allowing of the formal
execution of the Guarantee Deed to the full amount by the 15th of March, the day after the
incorporation of the Commission. This Guarantee Fund was afterwards signed by 1 157
persons, in all, to the amount of ^2,255,000, and upon this security, the Bank of England
advanced $1,250,000 for the expenses of erecting the buildings and making the requisite
preparations for the Exhibition.
At South Kensington, within a short distance of the site of the Exhibition of 185 I, and at
the south end of the new gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, was a piece of
ground belonging to the commissioners of the previous e.xhibition, and purchased with their
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
surplus funds. This was selected as the location for the buildings of the present exhibition,
and arrangements were made for its use. This location was quite favorable in some respects,
and unfavorable in others. The new gardens of the Horticultural Society were finely situated,
laid out with considerable dignity of style and in excellent taste, and formed a noble and
attractive addition to the exhibition. It was imperative, however, in order to provide sufficient
space, that the whole of the selected ground should be covered with buildings, and the result
was that they were thrown out to the very verge of the street in front, — the street not being
of very great width, and already built upon to a considerable extent on the other side, — so that
no matter what the elevation of a building necessarily so long, it could never be seen to
advantage, and no opinion could be formed of its proportions, whether good or bad. The
approaches were also restricted, few, difficult and dangerous for the great multitudes which
such an exhibition would draw together. In fact, the arguments opposed to the selection of
this site seemed to preponderate very much over those in favor of it. Having determined
upon the site, the Commissioners decided not to allow open competition for designs, and
during a consideration of the propriety of permitting a limited competition, a plan was
presented to their notice, designed for the site in question by Captain Fowke, of the Royal
Engineers, an officer of great skill and experience, who had been in the British Department
of the Paris Exhibition, and who had prepared this plan so as to meet many practical defects,
found, in his opinion, to exist in the buildings of the exhibitions of 185 i and 1855. This
plan met with so much favor that it was immediately adopted, and Captain Fowke appointed
sole and responsible architect for the Exhibition buildings ; the Commission thus passing over
the whole engineering and architectural professions of the country, including those who had
F>\tnt Elevatit
been so honorably connected with the previous exhibition, and creating much jealous feeling
and disappointment. The plans were somewhat modified, in order to keep the cost within
certain figures fixed upon by the Commissioners : bids were received, and the work was let on
the 23d of February, 1861. We present an exterior view of the building from the Albert
Road, which will give the reader a very fair idea of its appearance. The design was severely
criticised at the time; the frontage on the Cromwell road,* showing to the right on our picture,
especially being condemned as featureless and ugly ; and the Art Journal characterized the
building as "the wretched shed that was the Fowke version of the Paxton Cr>'stal Palace."
But it must be remembered that the site was determined upon, and that the question of cost
was fixed, precluding any expense beyond a certain amount. There seems also to have been
* Vide page xliii.
xl HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
an intention of making a certain portion of the buildings so permanent that it could be finished
up after the close of the exhibition as a national gallery of Fine Art. Any architect, under
these conditions, would have worked to great disadvantage. And in reference to the front on
the Cromwell road, it may be said that there would have been very little use in finishing it up
expensively and artistically, as no one could see the building on this side, except in small
portions at a time.
Designating the south face of the building on the Cromwell road as the main front, we
may describe the building as follows: —
This main front occupied an extreme length of i i 50 feet 9 inches, and a depth of 50 feet,
and was constructed in brick, with a grand central entrance consisting of three arched openings.
The wings on either side were built in two stories, the upper being used for picture-galleries ;
and the face walls were pierced with arched window openings, filled in on the lower story with
glass, and on the upper with blank panels, so as to allow an uninterrupted wall-space in the
interior for pictures. At the ends of these wings, as will be seen by the perspective view,
were double corner towers. Passing into the central entrance, grand stairways led to the
upper floor, where in the centre was a sculpture gallery, 150 feet in length, with entrances
leading to the picture-galleries on either side.
These galleries possessed noble proportions and were effective and useful for their purposes.
On the east and west sides, on Prince Albert and E.xhibition roads, brick fronts extended north
from the corner towers, each having a face of about 700 feet and a large central arched entrance,
and really presenting a better appearance than any other portion of the building. The wings
on the sides of the central arch were only 25 feet wide, and were built in two floors, the upper
forming auxiliary picture-galleries, and the lower being used for offices, retiring rooms, etc.
The picture-galleries, all together, produced about 4600 feet lineal, or two acres superficial,
of hanging space. A grand nave extended through between the central entrances on the east
and west sides, 800 feet in length, 85 feet in width, and lOO feet in height from the floor to
the ridge of the roof. At either end of this were large octagonal spaces 135 feet in diameter
across the faces of the octagon, crowned by great duodecagonal glass domes 150 feet in
diameter. We give a view of the interior of the great nave, looking west.
Two transepts crossed the nave at the domes, extending north and south, having the same
width, height and manner of construction as the nave, and nearly 600 feet in length, right
through. The nave and transepts had arched timber roofs, supported by double columns of
iron. The domes rose to a height of 200 feet, with gilded finials 55 feet higher, and were
constructed of wrought-iron framing, covered with glass. They presented a very light
appearance, and were quite transparent when viewed from a near point of sight, showing the
skeleton of the framing through the glass. The best view of them was that from some point
a mile or two distant. Between the nave and the south front, and also on the north side of
the nave up to the gardens of the Horticultural Society, the whole area was roofed over with
glass and traversed with galleries.
Annexes, 200 feet in width, extended north for a distance of about 900 feet, on each side of
the gardens, being prolongations, as it were, of the east and west fronts. That on the west
front was devoted to machinery, and the one on the east to agriculture, — the latter having an
open court in the centre. These annexes were of timber framing, very lightly constructed,
the outside walls being of plaster on lathing, and the roof consisting of a series of four
consecutive arches of 50 feet span each, boarded and covered with tarred and sanded felt.
Each arch had a continuous glazed skylight for its whole length. A range of refreshment
rooms was placed at the north end of the Horticultural Gardens, constructed over the arcades
of the entrance, and connecting the ends of the two annexes. The view from here over the
gardens was the most beautiful that the whole ground afforded.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
xli
The decoration of the building was placed in the hands of Mr. J. G. Grace, a gentleman
of considerable reputation in his special art ; the same who had decorated the Manchester
Exhibition Building, and who also had been specially selected by Sir Gharles Barry to carry
out the decorations of the Houses of Parliament. The work was completed in three months
xlii HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
and gave, with one or two exceptional points, very general satisfaction. A light gray was
adopted in the main portion of the building for the interior roof surface, and the timber framing
marked out in colors more or less decided, each piece forming the polygonal rib, being painted
in red or blue alternately, so arranged that in consecutive ribs, like sides of the polygon, were
of different colors, and red showed against blue, or vice versa. It was intended, in taking a
view of the roof, that these colors should mix and balance each other and produce a soft
effect. The result was not as expected, and it would have been better to have painted the ribs
of one uniform color. The sashes, and much of the wood-work on the sides below the roof,
were of vellum color; the cast-iron work of columns and girders light bronze green ; and the
capitals of columns picked out red, blue and gold. The portions of the building below the
arches were made quiet in color, so as not to interfere with the brilliancy and richness of the
exhibits, while the vividness of coloring in the roof was intended to carry up, in some degree,
the gaiety of the scene below.
The walls of the vestibule, stairways, etc., intended for sculpture, were colored in tints of
maroon and quiet reds, with some green. Those of the picture-galleries were nearly all a
subdued sage green, relieved along the cornices and string-mouldings by stenciled ornaments
in a sort of cream or vellum color. Under the domes, the large supporting iron columns —
nearly lOO feet in height — were a dark maroon, with the capitals gilt; and the panels between
the arches and frieze were in shades of red, relieved by colored lines, the names of the four
quarters of the globe being inserted in four of the compartments, with the initials of Victoria
and Albert below. On the eight spandrils of the four main arches, medallions were placed,
emblematic of manufactures, commerce and the various arts and sciences. The moulding of
cornice and facia was of vellum color, relieved by gilding; the trusses gold-color, with the facia
between them red, and the broad facia below, blue, and inscribed with scriptural sentences in
gold letters. In the domes proper, the main ribs were painted bright red, with spaced black
and white at the edges, and a fine gold line in the centre, spreading at intervals into lozenges
and circles containing gilt stars on a blue ground. At the ring-plate above, the red was carried
round, the points of intersection being painted black and white, and above that the eight main
ribs were painted deep blue, relieved with red, gold and black, until they met in the centre
pendant, which was gilt, bordered with red. The covering above was light blue with gilt rays
diverging from the centre.
The domes of this building were by far the most costly part of its construction, and were
thought by many to be quite a useless and unnecessary expense. The roof covering adopted
was found much better than the glass covering of previous exhibitions, resulting in a much
more equable and pleasant temperature in the interior.
The total area roofed in was 988,000 square feet — larger than that of any previous exhibition ;
but the total area of space, covered and uncovered, and available for e.xhibition purposes, was
not as great as that of Paris, 1855 ; the proportions standing 1,023,000 in the present case, to
1,500,000 in the other. The total cost was not less than $2,150,000, equal to about ;g2.i8 per
square foot. Including the expenses of the exhibition, during the time it was open, the total
amounted to $2,298,155, and the entire amount received by the Royal Commissioners
amounted to precisely the same sum, making no loss or no gain, — the exhibition just self-
sustaining and no more.
By great e.xertions, the exhibition was opened upon the day appointed, — the ist of May,
1862. One great loss was felt in the death of Prince Albert, to whom so much was due
for the favor and encouragement he had given to international exhibitions, and to whom they
really owed their origin.
The contrast between the administration of the Exhibition of 185 I, under his charge, and
that of 1862, after he had been called away, was very marked ; and of the great throngs who
IN TER NA TI NA L EXHIB I TI NS.
crowded into and around the building on that day of opening, not one but felt his absence.
The Queen, of course, was not there, and although the ceremonies were very stately and
imposing, a gloom was cast over the whole
which nothing could entirely dispel. Apart
from his royalty, Prince Albert was a very
popular man, — endearing himself to the
people by the active part he took in all
industrial and art matters, — and hence the
loss to the nation was felt all the more keenly.
The Queen was represented by the Duke
of Cambridge, who received and replied to
the address of the Commissioners, and to
whom was handed the master-key, which
opened all the different locks on the various
doors of the exhibition building. After
this, the grand orchestra, consisting of 400
instruments and 2000 voices, opened with
a grand overture by Meyerbeer, followed
by a chorale, composed by Sterndale Bennett,
to the words of an ode written for the
occasion by Tennyson, and then by Auber's
"Grand March." After a prayer by the
Bishop of London, Handel's choral hj'mns
— the "Hallelujah" and "Amen," from the
Messiah — followed, and the National An-
them was again sung in conclusion. The
Duke of Cambridge then rose and pro-
claimed the exhibition open; a prolonged
fanfare from the trumpets of the Life-
Guards saluted the announcement, and the
ceremony ended.
The display from the United States at
this exhibition was very small — owing to
tlie troubles at home — but what was ex-
hibited, was very creditable, and — as in the
Paris Exhibition — agricultural machines
took a conspicuous position. McCormick's
Reaper, with its self-raking attachment, was
exhibited, and published as one of forty
thousand made and sold from one estab-
lishment; and Russell's Screw-power Reap-
ing Machine also • attracted considerable
attention. A very novel and ingenious
invention — and one that received much
notice — was the " Improved Cow-Milker," of Messrs. Kershaw & Colvin, of Philadelphia.
Two machines for Boot and Shoe Stitching, invented by Mr. L. R. Blake, were remarkable
for their simplicity of construction and efficiency and rapidity of production. Sewing-
machines — which were novelties in 185 i — had improved and increased in variety to a very
great extent, and a large number of United States manufacture were exhibited.
xliv HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Hoe & Company, of New York, exhibited their famous Printing Machines, by a model
provided with ten impression-cylinders, as then used by the London Times and Telegraph;
and the Composing and Distributing Machines of Mitchell were wonderful specimens of
American ingenuity.
In the Machinery Department, Mr. Ramsbottom, of England, exhibited his admirable
invention for supplying locomotive tenders with water while at full speed, now adopted in
this country, and used with so much success for express trains on the Pennsylvania Rail-
road. It consists of a dip-pipe, or scoop, attached to the bottom of the tender, its upper
end running into the upper part of the water-tank, and the lower end curved forward and
dipping into water contained in a shallow, open trough lying longitudinally between the
rails. The Giffard Injector — now in such universal use — was also among the new inven-
tions at this exhibition.
A very efficient apparatus was a Folding, Pressing and Stitching Machine, from Switzerland,
registering and folding sheets of paper with far greater precision than the most experienced
hand-labor could do, at the rate of 1400 to 1500 sheets per hour, and at the same time
pressing and stitching them.
Among the notable exhibits was Babbage's Calculating Machine, which could work
quadrations and calculate logarithms up to seven places of figures, and, with the improve-
ments of Schentz, of Stockholm, print its results. The Calculating Machine of M. Thomas
— the Babbage of France — was also shown, dividing 16 figures by 8 figures in half a
minute, or giving the square root of 13 figures in one minute, although not larger than a
musical snuff-box.
The exhibits in reference to Electric Telegraphs, and electrical apparatus, showed a
great advance in this department of science.
The steel exhibits were remarkably fine ; Bessemer Steel, now so extensively employed
for railway bars, then just coming into use ; and the greatest progress was shown from the
time of the previous exhibition.
The display of Chemicals was the finest that had ever been made, — far exceeding that
of 185 1. The Pharmaceutical Society, of London, exhibited a splendid collection of drugs.
The coal-tar dyes, then newly discovered, were among the most important of the
exhibits. Aniline, but a few years previously so rare as to be known among chemists
almost only by name, had now become an article of commerce, and a circular block about
20 inches high and 9 inches in diameter, was shown, which was the whole product of no
less than 2000 tons of coal, and was sufficient to dye 300 miles of silk fabric. Those
beautiful blue and purple dyes which are obtained from lichens were also exhibited.
The number, variety and beauty of the articles in Pottery was very great, although in
the English department the designs of the ornamentation still showed a predominance of
French ideas. The Majolica and Tile exhibits of Messrs. Maw & Co., and Messrs. Minton,
were exceedingly fine. The majolica fountain of the latter — under the eastern dome — the
largest exhibit of its class, and executed from designs of the sculptor Thomas, although a
work of great expense, elegant, symmetrical and bold, and, so far as workmanship went, of
great merit, was not considered a success, and fully exemplified the non-adaptability of the
material to the purpose for which it was used, giving a lesson of warning what to avoid
rather than what to copy. The Sevres Porcelain exhibit maintained its standard of
excellence, the leading feature of this display being the sea-green ware, or celadon changeant,
which first appeared in the Paris Exhibition of 1855; a gray, dull sea-green as a body-
color, more like what one might expect to find in old oriental ware — more easily recognized
than descpibed — on which is penciled with a similar but white paste, designs of leaves and
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS. xlv
flowers, standing out in slight relief, as white upon a celadon ground. The celadon
changeant is a variety which possesses the singular capability of reflecting local color.
England made a superb exhibit of Glassware, being first in quality of material and
artistic development, and far outstripping Austria and France, which, in 185 1, held the
supremacy.
In Furniture, the advance made by England since 1851 was very marked, the designs
departing from the French, or rococo renaissance, which had been the order of the day,
and partaking of the Italian school, being much purer in tone, simplicity and taste, and
showing greater progress than by any other nation.
In Metal Work, the progress had also been rapid, the British outstripping all competi-
tors, and developing an inherent strength, artistically, as well as mechanically. M. Ducel,
of Paris, exhibited some remarkajjle figure castings in iron. Works in the precious
metals showed great advance, and in this department the French were far ahead of the
English.
Among the Sculpture exhibits, we may mention Fuller's bronze statue of " The
Castaway," representing a shipwrecked man — faint, bruised and exhausted — floating on a
piece of wreck, raising himself up and holding his hand aloft as he makes a last despe-
rate effort to attract assistance. It was a work of great merit, gaining for its author a
high reputation.
The " Reading Girl," by Pietro Magin, of Milan, — which the writer had the pleasure
of seeing at Milan, several years ago, — was another one of the gems of the exhibition. A
girl of no decidedly idealized type, loosely draped, as if partly prepared to retire for the
night, is seated on a common rush.-bottomed chair, sideways, and reading a book, supported
on its back. The position is so entirely free from affectation, and the attitude and
expression so natural, that it appeals to the heart at once, and no one could fail to notice
and appreciate it. Gibson exhibited a colored "Venus," a work of elaborate and exquisite
execution, and exceeding beauty and refinement, — the coloring, by many, however, was
considered a failure. It was not merely a tone given to the marble, but polychromatic,
and too weak, — not approaching nature sufficiently to give human expression, and yet suffi-
ciently tinted to take away the divine purity of the simple marble.. Miss Hosmer exhibited
her " Puck," and " Zenobia Captive ;" and Powers, his " California."
The exhibition closed on November 1st, a day of fog and drizzling rain. There was a
very large number of persons present, among them Prince Napoleon, the Duke of Cam-
bridge, and many others of distinguished rank, but no special ceremonial took place, in the
usual acceptance of the term. As an exhibition, its success was not equal to that of 185 1,
either in fitness of edifice, novelty of articles exhibited, or in financial results.
Whatever may be said of the Emperor Napoleon III., all will admit that he systematically
labored to advance the interests and promote the happiness of the people under him,
continually engaging in projects for the development of the great natural resources of his
empire ; originating and giving an impulse to national industries, before unknown, and
taking every opportunity of pleasing the inherent tastes of his people, and gratifying their
pride by improving and adorning Paris, until it grew to be called the most beautiful city of the
modern world — -the very Heaven of the pleasure-seeker. In strict accordance with his'
expressed views, and with the characteristic features of his reign, he decided upon holding
a great International Exhibition in Paris, in 1867, and on the 22d of June, 1863, an imperial
decree was issued to this effect ; the " Universal Exposition," as it was called, being
intended to comprise typical examples of works of art, and of the industrial products of all
countries, and to include every branch of human labor or skill. The invitation was extended
to artists, manufacturers and workers of all nations, to take part in the Exposition, and it
xlvi
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
was expressly stated that the decree had been issued so early in order to afford all
desiring to enter the Exposition ample time for mature consideration and reflection, and
for arranging and carrying out the necessary preparations. This was followed by a second
decree in February, 1865, confirming the previous one, explaining in full such details as had
become at that time necessary, and defining the leading features of the proposed exhibition.
An Imperial Commission was appointed, a Guarantee Fund provided, Commissions and
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS. xlvii
Committees formed — at home and abroad — and a comprehensive system of co-operation
organized and brought into service. The Presidency of the Commission was confided to
Prince Napoleon, the Emperor by this selection bearing high testimony to the importance
which he attached to the success of the Exposition. Formal invitations were issued to
Foreign Governments ; and in reference to these, it was required as an absolute condition
for the admission of any exhibitors from any country, that the government of such country
should first accept the invitation extended to it, and assume the responsibility of forming
the exhibition of its section.
In arranging the plan of the exhibition, two fundamental points were determined upon
by the Commissioners : first, that a two-fold classification should be adopted, allowing the
contributions from each country to be kept separately in one mass, while, at the same time,
all the productions of a class from the various countries should be grouped together ; and
secondly, that the building should be so constructed, and of such ample dimensions that
the whole display could be made upon the main floor, without the use of the galleries.
The site selected for the exhibition was the "Champs de Mars" — the same spot upon
which was located the first French Exposition of 1798 — a rectangle of 119 acres, to which
was attached, also, the Island of Billancourt, affording an additional area of 52 acres, or
171 in all. The main building was located upon the former, and the latter was used for
the Agricultural Department. An elliptical form of building was adopted, or, in reality, a
rectangle with rounded ends ; the length of the straight portion between the curved ends
being 360 feet, the total length 1,608 feet, and the width, 1,247 f^et. The total area
within the outer limits of the building was 37/5 acres, and an open garden of i^ acres
occupied the centre, reducing the amount under roof to 361^15 acres. The building was
composed of a series of vast concentric oval compartments, each one story in height, the
inner one encircling the centre garden as an open colonnade. The whole list of objects
exhibited was divided into ten groups; of these, seven were provided for in the main
building, a compartment being appropriated to each special group. There were, therefore,
seven principal compartments ; and the arrangement of area under roof was as follows,
proceeding from the centre outwards: —
Promenade around centre garden 17 feet wide.
Gallery de I'Histolre du Travail 28 "
1. Gallery of Fine Arts 49 "
2. Corridor for the Liberal Arts 20 "
Passage-way 16 "
3. Corridor for Furniture 76 "
Passage-way . , 16 "
4. Corridor for Textile Fabrics 76 "
Passage-way 16 "
5. Corridor for Raw Materials 7^ "
6. Gallerj' for Machines 115 "
Gallery for Restaurants 33 "
The spaces devoted to the different countries were arranged in a wedge-like form,
radially from the centre of the building to the outer edge, and the visitor, by proceeding
around one of the concentric oval departments, passed through the different countries
exhibiting, one after the other, always keeping in the same group of subjects ; but if he
walked from the centre of the building outwards, radially, he traversed the different groups of
the same country. The arrangement of double classification required was, therefore, by this plan,
xlviii HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
completely accomplished, and afforded great convenience and facility for study and
comparison.
The area encircling the Industrial Palace — amounting to 8i acres — was divided into the
Park and the Reserve Garden, and in the former, numerous structures, constructed by the
different nationalities, grew up, in all varieties of style, — from the hut of the Esquimaux
to the palace of a Sultan — the workmen or attendants at each being almost universally peculiar
to the special country, and imparting additional interest to them. The Champs de Mars, in a
short space of time, changed like magic from a dry and arid plain — useful only as a place
for manoeuvres of troops — to a charming Park, containing a city in the midst of groves and
green lawns ; a place such as the author of the " Thousand-and-one Nights " alone could
have imagined — groups of buildings so violent in their contrasts as to produce harmony
only by reason of their oddity, and leading the visitor to imagine that he had been trans-
ported to dream-land. Turkish and Egyptian palaces ; mosques and temples of the
Pharaohs ; Roman, Norwegian and Danish dwellings by the side of Tyrolese chalets ; here,
a specimen of the Catacombs of Rome — there, a group of English cottages ; workmen and
farmers' dwellings, light-houses, theatres, a succession of hundreds of constructions, as unlike
each other as possible ; restaurants and cafes everywhere, for all classes of people ; noises of all
kinds filling the air; concerts, orchestras, the ringing of bells and the blowing off of steam-
boilers; such was the Park of the Champs de Mars during the Exposition Universelle.
The Reserve Garden contained the botanical, horticultural and piscicultural collections.
Nothing so charmed or rested the eye as the green lawns spread out so extensively before
the visitor; nothing so picturesque as the chance glimpses of ground beyond, that inter-
cepted the horizon ; as the shrubbery, the grottoes, the cascades, the conservatories, some so
grand, and others so petite and pretty. No one who saw the E.xposition could forget all the
beauties of this spot; the aquariums, the diorama, the pavilion de I'lmperatrice, or, above all,
the aristocratic restaurant of the Jardin reserve.
An iron coliseum grew up in the midst of all this, far exceeding in magnitude the ancient
Coliseum of Rome itself, gathering beneath its roof nearly 50,000 exhibitors from all parts
of the world.
Flowers, statuary and fountains adorned the open garden in the centre, and a central
pavilion contained an exhibition of the weights, measures and moneys of^all countries. The
outer compartment of the building was the highest and broadest of all, having a width of 1 1 5
feet, and a height to top of roof of 81 feet. The roof was of corrugated iron, supported
by iron columns ; and along the centre of the whole length of the compartment was an
elevated platform, carried upon iron pillars, and forming a promenade, at once safe and
convenient, from which to view the machinery below.
The vast supply of water necessary for the use of the exhibition, for the display of the
fountains, etc., was obtained from the Seine, and raised by means of powerful steam-pumps to
a reservoir on high ground on the opposite bank of the river.
The Government surrendered the site to the Commissioners on the 28th of September,
1865; the first iron pillar was raised April 3d, 1866; and, although the building was not
entirely completed by the time fixed — the 1st of April, 1867 — the opening ceremonies, never-
theless, took place, as per appointment, with considerable pageantrs'.
The Emperor and Empress arrived at two o clock in the afternoon, accompanied by the
Mini-sters of State, the Prefect of the Seine and the Imperial Commission. Entering the
Palace by the Porte d'honneiir, facing the Bridge of Jena, they traversed the grand Gallery
of Machinery, commencing at the French Department and terminating at the English.
They then passed through all the galleries, and having received the artists and authors of
distinction in the Salon des Beaux-Arts, they visited the Imperial Pavilion, and resting a
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
xlix
while, then entered their carriage
assembled multitude, and
the Exhibition was open to
the world.
The day was perfect,
and everything combined
to make the opening a
success ; the bright sun,
the deep Italian blue of
the sky, the varied and
rich costumes of the multi-
tudes, the gorgeous decora-
tions, the oriflammes wav-
ing in the breeze, and the
music from the orchestras
floating through the air
— all united to produce that
elated, happy, contented
feeling which one experi-
ences at times — a true en-
joyment — the struggles
and toils of this world
forgotten almost entirely in
one real day of pleasure.
In two weeks' time
everything was in order,
and the exhibition had
developed from its unfin-
ished state into perfection,
— an object of beauty and
instruction to all who pass-
ed within its boundaries.
In passing through the
i£asn*-*^^*^^^»a2
and departed, amidst vociferous acclamations from the
exhibition, the first por-
tion that attracted atten-
tion — after leaving the
central garden — was the
Gallery de T Histoire du
travail. This department
was intended to exhibit
the various phases through
which each country had
passed before arriving at
the present era of civiliza-
tion, and was a grand idea
as a preface to the Expo-
sition. It was exceedingly
interesting, although not
as complete as it might
have been, and not carry-
ing the connecting links
quite up to the present
date. The French Depart-
ment was the most perfect,
being divided up into a
series of halls, or apart-
ments, to represent the dif-
ferent periods. The first
hall represented the Stone
Age, and here one found
the collections from the
lake-dwellings of Switzer-
land, the bone-caverns and
the peat-bogs. Next came
the relics of the Bronze
l^«5^3:^^SS^«56S*^J^r^^
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Period — objects of ornament and utility, bracelets, agricultural implements, etc., extending
down to the Gallo-Roman. Following, were the relics of the Celtic and Gallic races ; the
works of the Middle Ages, seals, caskets, croziers and illuminated missals ; and after that
came the Renaissance Period, embracing curious locks, spherical watches and a handsome
exhibit of the enamels of Limoges, from the collection of Baron Rothschild. In the sixth
hall were productions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the contributions from
other countries were some very curious articles — the cradle of Charles XII, of Sweden,
fine collections of ancient arms and armor, etc.
The Department of Fine Arts — which occupied the next gallery — was one of great
interest both to artists and amateurs, the different nations having almost universally furnished
the best productions of their most eminent artists in both painting and sculpture. Some
countries were very much crowded in the space assigned to them, and erected special
buildings — outside the main building — for their exhibits. The statuary, from all countries,
was very much scattered through different parts of the building, and over all parts of the
Champ de Mars.
In Paintings, the French were well represented by Gerome, Meissonier, Corot, Cabanel,
Hamon, Yvon, in his "Taking of the Malakoff," Rosa Bonheur, Fromentin and others.
Among the genre subjects, Plassan, Fichel, Toulmouche and Welter were represented by
some exquisite pictures. The Belgian exhibit — a very fine collection — was outside, and
consisted of contributions by Leys, Stevens, Willems, Verlat, Clay and others. The govern-
ment of Holland — also outside — exhibited 170 pictures, the artist Israels standing foremost
in rank jyiiong the contributors, and distinguished by his delicacy of sentiment and simplicity
of expression. The Belgian and Holland schools showed strong inclination towards the
French, neglecting the styles of their ancestors, with the exception of Leys, who was the
pre-Raphaelite prophet of the Netherlands. Switzerland and Bavaria also had their own
buildings in the Park, and showed large exhibits.
It was a little singular that the exhibit from Italy — the cradle of art — consisting of fifty-one
oil paintings, should have been scarcely above mediocrity. The collection from the United
States was a very creditable one, the foundry scene of Weir being the best work of its kind
in the Exposition. Bierstadt, Church, Kensett, Broughton, Huntingdon, Hart, Healy and
others were well represented.
The influence of the French school was very apparent in all the Continental collections.
The English and American pictures were quite different, showing much more character and
individuality, the difference in system of study throwing the artist entirely on his own
resources, and thereby bringing out his peculiar style, which, under the Continental method
of teaching, might never develop.
The Mosaic Work, contributed by Russia from the atelier of Michael Chmielevski, of St.
Petersburg, was the finest, by far, in the exhibition.
The exhibition of Sculpture showed the influence of the realistic school over the classical,
the best artists availing themselves of the good points, of both schools without binding them-
selves to either. The gem of the classical school was of American origin, "The Sleeping
Fawn," by Miss Hosmer. One of the most striking statues of the realistic school was " The
Last Days of Napoleon I," contributed by an Italian, who received a gold prize for his work.
Passing on to the corridor for the Liberal Arts, one came into contact with books and
printing, paper and stationery, lithography, photography, musical instruments of all kinds,
medical and surgical apparatus, appliances for teaching science, mathematical instruments,
maps and geographical and cosmographical apparatus.
Among the Photographic exhibits was a fine series of views of the Yosemite Valley, by E.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
Watkins, of San Francisco; also, Rutherford's photographs of
spectrum, attracting great interest from the savans, and receiving a
Among the Mu-
sical Instruments,
Steinway & Sons, of
New York, and
Chickering & Sons,
of Boston, were con-
sidered as having
the best pianos in the
Exposition, and al-
though the Jury of
Awards had only
four gold medals to
award to this class,
they each received a
gold medal, and the
fact of two going to
America, under the
circumstances, was a
the
silver
moon and the solar
medal.
great honor. Mason
& Hamlin's cabinet
organs were objects
of great interest on
account of their su-
perior workmanship
and singularly pure
tone, and received a
silver medal.
The exhibition of
Surgical Instruments
made by the Sur-
geon-General of the
United States was
very complete and
interesting, consist-
ing of ambulances,
medicine wagons,
field-hospitals, artificial limbs, and every species of apparatus which had been invented or
improved by the exigences of our late war. A very ingenious orrery was exhibited fron^
Hi
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
the United
rotation of
States, showing the planetary system in a very exact manner, not only giving the
the earth round the sun, but at the same time that of the moon around the earth.
In passing through the gal-
lery devoted to Furniture, one
could not fail to notice the
great degree of perfection to
which the industries here rep-
resented had arrived.
The French glass works of
Baccarat and the Compagnie
des Cristalleries de St. Louis,
and those of England and
Venice ; the Italian /rtzVwcf, the
art bronzes of Paris, the pro-
ductions of Sevres, of Beau-
vais, and the Gobelins, the
pottery, goldsmith-ware, cut-
ler}', perfumery and other cele-
brated articles of Paris, and
numerous other specialties of
acknowledged merit, were here
all displayed in profusion. The
exhibit of English white crys-
tal Glass was far finer than at
any previous exhibition, show-
ing a remarkable advance since
the Plxhibition of 1862, and
distinguished for its purity and
brilliancy of color. The French
displayed an immense variety
of colored, gilded and painted
glass ; but the white glass,when
compared with the English,
had a clouded and gray appear-
ance, owing to a far less quan-
tity of lead being used in its
composition. Baccarat exhib-
ited some effects in decoration,
produced by giving to crystal
glass a deep-colored surface,
and then etching on this a
design to different depths, pro-
ducing different shades of color
down to the clear, white glass
itself The effect was excel-
lent, and the process evinced
great capabilities. The most
remarkable exhibit of Austrian
glass was that of Lobmeyr, of
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS. liii
Vienna, the designs being in perfect taste, and the material first-class. The Bohemian glass
was superb ; the decorations in gold, especially those in raised gold, without an equal in
either execution or artistic effect; and gilding and coloring were applied in such a way
as not to be at variance with either the material or the purpose for which the article was
intended to be used. Dr. Salviati, of Venice, showed some wonderful specimens of modern
glass manufacture, inaugurating a revival of the glories of the old Venetian glass, and
imitating the peculiarities of that production, such as gold metallic particles floating in the
material, thread work, dainty touches of color, etc., in such perfection as to attract the atten-
tion of all lovers of art work.
Pottery stands among the earliest of art manufactures, and in none has there been less
change ; the finest designs of the present day being of the same forms as in use two thousand
years ago. Taking a material possessing primarily less value than almost any other used in
the arts, the manufacturer, by the exercise of labor, skill and taste, produces forms ministering
greatly to the necessities of man, and often of untold value, ranging from objects of every-
day use to the porcelain of Sevres. We engrave on page xlix a vase produced from the
Imperial manufactory of Sevres, a beautiful work of art and an excellent specimen of the gems
which are created in that school of pottery so creditable to the government which has estab-
lished it.
In the display of Textile Fabrics, carpets and tapestries occupied a prominent place.
Carpets from Persia were more like shawls in their exceeding beauty of texture and the
style and color of their designs ; and in the French Department those of Savonnerie and the
Gobelins still held their own against all competitors. The Imperial manufactories of the
Gobelins and of Beauvais had on exhibition exquisite specimens of tapestry, and those of the
different manufacturers of Aubusson were of the highest merit. Among the varied collec-
tion of table-covers were those of Philip Haas & Sons, of Vienna, the most eminent and
extensive manufacturers of Tapestries, Carpets and Curtains in Austria, and we engrave on
pages xlix and li some specimens of their work, which were of great elegance, and so much
admired that one exhibit was almost hidden from view by the vast number of cards attached,
on which were written orders for similar pieces of work.
Mr. Hariy Emanuel, of London, exhibited in rcpousec silver, Tazze of Night and Morning,
designed by the eminent artist Pairpoint, of which the engravings we give on page lii convey
an excellent idea.
An exquisite dessert service in turquoise and gold was exhibited by Messrs. Goode of
London, and manufactured for the Duchess of Hamilton— also Princess of Baden — and we
show engravings on page li of parts of this service, on one of which will be seen represented
the arms of the Duchess.
What has been designated by many as the best work of its kind in the exhibition was
the famous Milton Shield of Messrs. Elkington, London, from a design by Morel Ladeuil,
one of the grandest works of its class that had ever been produced, admirable in conception,
and perfect in execution. We understand that this shield will form part of Messrs. Elkington's
exhibit this year, and give an engraving of it on the following page.
In Bronzes, France — especially Paris — had at this time achieved the highest reputation,
which was fully sustained in this exhibition, the French Bronze Court surpassing anything
of the kind ever before seen, either in extent or variety. The admirable collection of M.
Barbedienne stood unrivaled, being fine art work in every sense of the term, the use of
various tints of bronze, and gilding and silvering where required, displaying great decorative
and artistic taste. M. G. Servant, of Paris, also exhibited excellent specimens of bronze
work, and the Boudoir Mirror we engrave on page Iv, was one of his productions.
The display of Furniture proper was veiy extensive, and remarkable for great variety of
liv
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
style, excellence of workmanship and rich diversity of material, coming from all quarters of
the globe, and representing all peculiarities of taste. The English showed simplicity of
INTERNA TIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
Iv
treatment and improvement in design
use of caryatides and
uncouth human fig-
ures, and although
perhaps pleasing the
popular eye, was un-
questionably degen-
erate in taste. The
German was solid
and heavy, and the
Belgian bold and ef-
fective, but too nat-
uralistic and unart-
istic in the ornamen-
tal work.
An ebony Cabi-
net, of great beauty,
and a production of
the very highest
order of art manufac-
ture.was exhibited by
HerrTiirpe.of Dres-
den, and is engraved
on the next page.
The bas-reliefs were
of pear-wood, and
the sculptured fig-
ures were the handi-
work of a true artist.
Some charming
works in Carved
Wood were shown
by Mr. G. A. Rogers,
whose father, W. G.
Rogers,had achieved
a great reputation in
this specialty. The
design and carving
of the specimen we
show on page Ivii
were both by Mr.
Rogers and exhibit
the same pure feeling
for which his father
was so celebrated.
Svvitzerland has at-
tained great reputa-
tion for wood carv-
mg and none of her
The French was very lavish in ornanientation, the
contributors have a
wider renown than
MM. WirthBros.,of
Brienz, whose manu-
factures are true art
productions, no two
of them being ever
exactly alike, and al-
ways the work of
artists. On page Ivii
will be found several
specimens of their
work.
Mr. Charles J.
Phillip, of Birming-
ham, one of the lead-
ing British manufac-
turers of ornamental
gas-fixtures, exhibit-
ed fine specimens of
his work, one of
which we engrave on
page Iviii.
Passing on to the
next gallery, we enter
the Department of
Textile Fabrics, com-
prising articles for
clothing ; goods in
cotton, wool, silk,
flax, hemp, etc. ; ma-
terials and tissues
collected together,
from the most mar-
vellous silks of
Lyons to the cheap-
est cottonades ; from
the cashmere of the
Indies — -worked in
gold — down to the
merino scarf; from
the robe of Alen9on
lace, or the point
d'Angleterre, to the
tulle which may be
purchased for a few
cents per yard. Here
jewelry flashes in the
Ivi
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
light, gleaming diamonds, emeralds, pearls and coral ; there arc displayed French artificial
flowers so perfect as to excite even the jealousy of nature. In one portion of this department
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
Ivii
were life-size figures dressed to display the peculiar costumes of the various nations, those of
Sweden and Norway being distinguished for their perfect execution.
The display of Lace and Embroidery was very profuse and beautiful. From the time of
Marie de Medici to the present day, nothing has been found to take the place of this
costly fabric, lace ; and nothing else can give to a lady's toilette the same finish and elegance.
Its manufacture has attained great perfection in France, Belgium and England, and it is
also made to a small court, with the light
extent in other parts fabrics of Lille and
of Europe, but not of Arras. The Nor-
so fine a quality. In >Jra 4,,|^dlEXa^ mandy lace is made
Italy, the manufacture ^dP^^^S^^i^mk^2^ in the most perfection
once so extensive, Wm^^^^^^^^^f^m^Rk ^'^ Bayeux. MM. Le-
has degenerated, and ^^\lP^^5i||i^^^^^»Wk ^9L febure, the eminent
the point lace of Ve- ^^^3BB^^^^^~^^^^''-^^^^m^9i '^'^^ manufacturers of
nice and Genoa, so ^\g^^m/ nx'^-X ^I^mP this place, exhibited
celebt-ated in the six- ■mHR' \\ \ WM some beautiful speci-
teenth and seven-
teenth centuries, has
disappeared.
In France the prin-
cipal varieties manu-
factured are the Point
d'Alenqon, the black
lace of Normandy and
the laces of Auvergne,
of which Le Puy is
the centre, and those
of Lorraine at Mire-
mens of their work, of
which we engrave part
of a curtain on page
lix, in the style of the
the old Venetian point,
of scroll pattern, with
birds and flowers in-
troduced.
In Belgium, which
may be termed the
" classic land of lace,"
the manufactories arc
at Brussels, Mechlin, Valenciennes and Grammont. The especial lace of England is Honiton.
Embroidery comes from Nancy, Switzerland and Saxony, and an important branch of industry
in Switzerland is the fabric of net and muslin curtains, embroidered in crochet.
The display of Cashmere Shawls, both of Indian and French manufacture, was magnificent,
showing great elegance of pattern and beauty of execution.
In Goldsmiths' Work and Jewelry, Froment-Meurice — whose father was styled the Cellini
Iviii
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
of France — exhibited beautiful specimens of work, and we engrave on page Ix three examples
of his ordinary every-day productions, which are always characterized by beauty, richness
and great artistic taste. Some excellent and solidly-manufactured work was shown by Messrs.
Tiffany, of New York.
The next corridor, adjoining, was that for Raw and Manufactured Materials, obtained
directly from nature ; products of the soil and mine ; of the forests, and industries pertaining
to the same ; of the chase and fisheries ; uncultivated products ; agricultural products not used
as food ; chemical and pharmaceutical products — specimens of chemical processes for
bleaching, dyeing, printing and dressing of textile fabrics ; leather and skins. Here one found
collections and specimens of minerals and metals of all kinds, from all countries ; coal
and fuel of all sorts; rock-salt, sulphur, sponges, metal manufactures, stearine, soap, paints,
wool, cotton, silk in the raw state, furs, tobacco, seeds, various varieties of wood, etc.
The Prussian salt-mines of Strassfurt were represented by a quantity of the salt cut
into large blocks and built up into the form of a half-dorne. Spain exhibited blocks of cin-
nabar from the famous mine of Almaden ; and Russia displayed large vases and candelabraS
made from malachite, jasper and rhodonite ; great varieties of rough and polished precious
stones, models of meteorites, etc. Alibert exhibited remarkable specimens of graphite from
his mines in Siberia, now in such extensive use for the celebrated Siberian pencils ; and a
mass of malachite weighing over two tons was shown from the mine of Prince Demidoff.
There was a large and creditable mineral exhibit from the United States ; coal, iron,
lead, copper from Lake Superior, quicksilver, silver and gold from Idaho and California,
and emery from Massachusetts. The exhibit of wrought-iron, in all forms of manufacture,
was very great; enormous plates, bars and girders-; cast-steel from the Krupp Works of
Essen, Prussia; ornamental castings, etc. The ornamental cast-iron productions of Durenne,
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS
of Paris, were particularly noticeable for beauty of design and excellence of work. We
reproduce on page Ixi a specimen of railing exhibited by him. None had greater renown in
iron castings at that time
than Barbezat & Co., of
Paris, and many fine de-
signs were exhibited by
them, of which we en-
grave one, a street-lamp,
on page Ixii. Some spe-
cimens from the estab-
lishment of Count Diniei-
del, in Prussian Silesia —
the famous foundry of
Lauchaumer — were art
castings of a high order
of merit, exquisite in
design, and remarkably
sharp and brilliant in
finish. One of them, a
stove, which excited uni-
versal admiration, we en-
grave on page Ixiii.
The exhibit of Furs
was very extensive and
in great variety, ranging
from the rarest kinds of
sable down to the ordi-
nary, cheap, glossy rabbit
skins. France and Russia
had fine assortments ;
and Messrs. Gunther, of
New York, displayed
some excellent specimens
of North American furs.
The next gallery was
that for Machines or
Apparatus and Processes
used in the Common
Arts. This was the high-
est and largest gallery of
the Exposition, and on
entering it for the first
time, the cotip d'ail
was certainly striking.
Gigantic masses of man-
ufactured metal articles,
arranged in the form of
trophies, rose up on all
sides, and a multitude
of machines in motion,
gave forth a thousand
noises of all kinds, be-
wildering the mind and
perplexing the ear. The
elevated platform — pass-
ing around in the centre
of the gallery — was a
favorite promenade, and
gave an excellent general
view of the exhibits.
It would be impossible,
in our limited space, to
enter into any detail con-
cerning the immense
number of machines
which had been brought
together under one roof
from all quarters of the
world, and testifying to
the inexhaustible invent-
ive genius of man in its
endeavors to supply the
increasing wants of the
age. We will, however,
mention a few of the most
important. Among the
machines for drilling of
rocks, the Diamond-
pointed Drill occupied a
prominent position, and
now forms the basis of
the most important ma-
chines of this kind in use.
Traction engines were
conspicuous in the En-
glish Department, and
reapers and mowers in
the American, the latter
carrying off the prize in
two trials made at the
Emperor's farms at Vin-
cennes and Touilleusc.
Under the head of Machine Tools, the principal e.xhibitors were France, England, Prussia and
America, the novelty of form and excellence of workmanship of America being admitted to be
Ix
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
equal to that of any other nation. The planing-machines, exhibited by Messrs. Wilham Sellers
& Co., of Philadelphia, were unsurpassed by any in the Exposition, and were remarkable for
many novelties. Their screw-cutting machine was also of an entirely new character and an
excellent tool. The display of Messrs. Bement & Dougherty in machine tools was first-class
and showed many points of excellence. The lathes of Harris and the American Tool Com-
pany possessed several very interesting peculiarities.
The principal improvements which this Exhibition showed to have taken place in
machine tools during the preceding twelve years may be mentioned as follows : — greater
simplicity, perfection and solidity of construction, and more frequent adoption of automatic
motions ; better adaptation of form to the materials employed ; increasing tendency to com-
pletion of products by mechanical means alone ; adaptation of machines to more universal
use, allowing several operations to be performed on the same piece of material without dis-
mounting it ; construction of portable machinery ; increase in rapidity of motion of the tools ;
and a general improvement in the execution of small tools ; and greater simplicity in the
means of transmitting motion.
Apparatus was shown for processes in carding, spinning, weaving and the preparation of
textile fabrics generally. Sewing-machines, machines for shoemaking and for making of
felt hats, were especially noticeable — an entire revolution in the machinery for the latter
industry having been made within a few years. Machinery for furniture manufacture showed
great improvement, and printing-machines of all varieties — for our daily morning paper, for
lithographic work, for stamping of te.xtile fabrics, for various kinds of printing and decoration
on paper, etc. — were displayed in profusion.
There was a very interesting exhibit of Railway Apparatus, and thirty-two locomotives
were exhibited ; the Grant locomotive, from Paterson, New Jersey, attracting much attention
from the general observer, owing to its exceedingly handsome appearance, being covered
with polished brass and German silver, with ivory handles to the different cocks, and various
other details of fine workmanship, which, by the more practical men, were considered out of
place and not particularly adapted to actual service. American ingenuity and invention again
occupied a prominent place in the exhibition of telegraphic apparatus and processes.
In Civil Engineering, Public Works and Architecture, the display of France was simply
superb. There were handsome models — complete in every detail — of bridges, viaducts,
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
Ixi
reservoirs, docks, etc. In the Italian Department were plans and sections of the Mount
Cenis Tunnel — then not completed; — and in the American Department plans were exhibited
showing the method adopt-
ed, and now in use, for
supplying the city of Chi-
cago with water from Lake
Michigan — a bold and most
successful scheme of engi-
neering. The Suez Canal
exhibit was full of detail
and of great interest.
The seventh, and outer
gallery of the buiding, was
devoted to food, either fresh
or preserved ; and in almost
every instance, a restaurant
was connected with each
country, where the various
foods could be practically
tested. Visitors were wait-
ed upon by young girls in
the costumes of the differ-
ent nationalities, and one
met here the blondes of
Bavaria, the gay Austrian,
the pretty Russian, crown-
ed with a tinsel diadem, the
Mulatto offering cocoa and
guava, Greeks, Swiss, Nea-
politans, Italians, Indians,
and even the Chinese
women, with their little tea
shop. All languages min-
gled strangely together on
this promenade, and all
nationalities elbowed each
other, from the elegant Pa-
risian to the Bedouin in his
burnous ; and the animated
aspect of the surroundings
of the Exposition will al-
ways be remembered by
those who were fortunate
enough to see it.
Down on the banks of
the Seine were displayed
NiNii^^<6ti
models of all kinds of naval
artillery, from enormous
steel cannon for iron-clads,
to little bronze pivot-guns
for gunboats, and every spe-
cialty in reference to mari-
time affairs, pleasure and
life-boats, yachts that were
chefs d'ceitvre of great
beauty and elegance, gon-
dolas, Egyptian caiques,
painted, and gilded and
manned by their Oriental
crews, steamers, monitors,
etc. A complete history
of naval constructions was
exhibited in a temporary
building, by means of
models in relief.
We have already spoken
of the Agricultural annexe
on the island of Billancourt,
and this deparment was on
a much more extensive
scale than ever given before
at any international exhibi-
tion, in fact, forming an
exhibition of itself, present-
ing exhibits of all kinds of
agricultural implements,
and the finest breeds of
live-stock — horses, cattle,
sheep and other domestic
animals — the exhibits being
changed every fortnight,
and making a succession
of fourteen competitive ex-
hibitions.
The distribution of prizes
took place at the Palais of
the Champs Elysees, — the
permanent building which
remained after the Exhibi-
tion of 1855, — on the ist
of July, and was accompanied by all the pomp and ceremony characteristic of the Empire.
The building had been decorated for this occasion with great magnificence. The stage
was hung with velvet, covered with gold bees, and surmounted by a gigantic imperial crown.
Ixii
HIS TOR I CA L IN TK ODUC T I O N.
Down the centre of the nave were placed
each department of the industries
to which prizes were awarded.
The glass roof was covered with
white vellum striped with green
and starred with gold, and from
it hung ten banners bearing the
colors corresponding to the ten
groups into which the exhibits
were divided. The columns of
the gallery were decorated with
the flags of the various nations
represented at the exhibition. On
the imperial platform were seated
the Emperor and Empress and
the Prince Imperial, accompanied
by the grand dignitaries of the
crown. Around their Majesties
were the Sultan and three young
princes of his family, the Prince
Napoleon and the Princess Clotilde,
the other members of the Impe-
rial family, the Prince of Wales
and Prince Arthur, of England,
the Prince Royal of Prussia and
various others of the royal visitors,
including a brother of the Tycoon
of Japan. The audience was com-
posed of representatives from all
nations, and numbered about
seventeen thousand persons. At
the moment of the entry of their
Majesties, the orchestra executed
the " Hymn to the Emperor," a
work composed expressly for the
occasion by Rossini. M. Rouher,
Minister of State, then presented
his report on the Exposition, and
after an address by the Emperor,
the names of the persons, the
establishments and the localities
to which were decreed the new
order of awards for " Social Har-
mony," were read. This order of
awards had been instituted by the
Emperor in favor of persons, estab-
lishments, or localities where, by
special institutions, good harmony
city of Paris of $i,200,C00 each, were ;g5, 25 1,361, leavin
ten trophies, formed of the principal products in
had been promoted among those
who carry on the same labors, and
the material, moral and intellectual
well-being had been thus secured
among the operatives. These
awards were ten prizes of one
hundred thousand francs each and
twenty honorable mentions. Fol-
lowing, were read the names of
the e.xhibitors who had obtained
the grand prizes for the groups
of Beaux-Arts, Agriculture and
Industry.
The awards granted by the
juries of the Exposition were,
sixty-four grand prizes, eight
hundred and eighty-three gold
medals, three thousand six hun-
dred and fifty-three silver medals,
five thousand five hundred and
si.xty five bronze medals, and five
thousand eight hundred and one
honorable mentions. The num-
ber of these awards is not sur-
prising when it is recollected that
the exhibitors numbered forty-five
thou.sand, and that they were
comprised of the elite of the
artists and industrial workers of
the entire world.
There were at this exhibition
over twelve millions of entrance
tickets recorded, representing at
least four millions of different
visitors. The total cost of the
main exhibition building was
g2, 3 56,605, or $1.43 per square
foot of surface covered. The total
expenses of every kind from the
commencement of the construc-
tion of the buildings — February
1st, 1865 — to, and including the
restoration of the Champs de Mars
after the close of the exhibition,
were ^4,688, 705, and the total
"M'oA receipts, including the subsidies
from the government and from the
a net profit of $562,654, of which
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS
Ixiii
dividends were declared of
and finally used for the
public good.
During an interval of
several years after the
Paris Exposition of 1867,
a number of minor local
and general exhibitions
were held in various places,
among which we may men-
tion that of the Central
Union of the Fine Arts
applied to Industry, in
Paris, in the old Palais de
I'Exposition, in 1869; an
exhibition in Dublin, and
also one at Leeds, the latter
a purely fine art and loan
exhibition, similar to the
one held at Manchester in
1857. Exhibitions were
also held at Copenhagen
and Moscow, in 1872, and
one of Domestic Economy
in Paris, the same year.
These exhibitions were all
more or less of a local
character, that at Copen-
hagen being confined to
the products of Sweden,
Norway and Denmark.
The Moscow E.xhibition,
which was on a consider-
able scale, was held under
the auspices of the Moscow
Polytechnic Society, with
the favor and protection of
the government. It was
too far distant to receive
much attention from this
country.
In England, a series of
annual international exhi-
bitions were organized in
1 87 1, and held regularly
afterwards, in a permanent
building erected for the
purpose at South Kensing-
ton, flanking the Royal
$553,200, and
the balance of $9,456 was held for unforseen events
Horticultural Gardens.
These exhibitions were
only moderate in size, but
of special interest, great
care being taken in the
selection of exhibits, and
the trade interests always
set aside in favor of the
encouragement of pro-
gress.
Awards have been given
at these annual exhibitions
with great judgment and
discretion, very much en-
hancing their value, and
the exhibitions have re-
sulted in considerable bene-
fit to England.
Austria, anxious to
keep pace with the other
great powers of Europe,
had early had her attention
drawn to the consideration
of the subject of Interna-
tional Exhibitions, even
previous to the time of
the Paris E.xhibition of
1867. Various causes,
however, had combined to
prevent any special action
in the matter for several
years, until the subject
again came up in 1870.
The city of Vienna within
the last decade had changed
from an old time town to
a modern metropolis. The
ancient fortifications had
been taken away and re-
placed by the magnificent
Ringstrasse. Inducements
of every kind had been
offered to those who would
improve and embellish the
city, and splendidbuildings
had grown up in all parts,
especially along the Ring-
strasse and its tributaries:
Ixiv
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
a noble opera-house had been built ; a New Vienna had arisen and a time had arrived to
display its glories to the world by devising an exhibition which it was proposed should
outrival all previous efforts in this direction.
Active measures for an international exhibition to be held in Vienna in 1873, were first
taken by the Trades' Union of the city, an organization of great opulence and influence,
having Baron Wertheinier — a wealthy manufacturer — at its head. According to the original
arrangement, a guarantee fund was formed of g 1,5 00 ,000, and subscriptions to this amount
were obtained — chiefly among members of the Society — it being supposed that the receipts
from the exhibition would nearly, if not quite, meet the expenditures, and that this fund
would cover all possible deficiencies. At this stage of the proceedings, the government was
induced to give its patronage and support to the undertaking, and a decree was issued by
the Emperor — May 24th, 1870, — announcing that "under the august patronage of His
Imperial and Royal Majesty, the Emperor, an International Exhibition would be held at
Vienna in the year 1873, having for its aim to represent the present state of modern civi-
lization and the entire sphere of national economy, and to promote its further development
and progress."
An Imperial Commission was formed with Archduke Charles Louis as Protector, Arch-
duke Regnier, President, and Baron William von Schwarz-Senborn as Director-General ; the
total number of members being one hundred and seventy-five, and selected from the chief
officers of the departments of the government, and from the leading men of science, art and
industry in the empire. Money was appropriated by the government to the amount of
;^3,000,000 towards an exhibition fund, to which was added the guarantee fund previously
obtained by private subscription, and all income from the exhibition itself One-half of the
amount furnished by the government was considered a regular appropriation, and the other
half an advance made, without interest, and it was provided that if the total receipts from
the exhibition and the government appropriation were not sufficient to cover the total
expenses, the government would call in the guarantee fund. As the work progressed, it
was found that the cost was greatly underestimated, and a supplemental grant of $3,000,000
additional was made by the government, although given under strong protest.
At no previous exhibition had so much interest been evinced by foreign governments,
and their commissioners were chosen from their most talented and eminent men.
The site selected for the buildings was the Imperial Park — called the Prater — situated
just outside of the city ; as convenient a location as could possibly have been obtained,
possessing within itself many attractions, and a favorite resort of all classes of citizens. On
the north side flowed the Danube River, spreading out into numerous arms, some so
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
Ixv
Ixvi
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
shallow as to be entirely unnavigable, others so full as to flood the flat country for miles
around upon the least rise in the water. To the south lay the Donau Canal, a natural
arm of the river, improved by art to a uniform width of one hundred and fifty feet, and the
only available channel for navigation. Great improvements were in progress at this time,
consisting in straightening and forming a new bed for the river nearly a thousand feet broad
and one-half mile nearer the city, reclaiming land from floods and properly protecting the
same by embankments, constructing docks, quays, warehouses, etc., and increasing the facili-
ties for navigation and commerce in a marked degree. The work performed for the exhi-
bition was expected to be of permanent value to the Danube improvement, and it was this,
more than anything else, which induced the government to lend its aid to the enterprise.
The Machinery Hall was intended to be used eventually as a freight or grain depot for
the Great Northern Railway, and the grand rotunda of the main building was considered
Main Entrance, InUrnattonal Exlnbition, I 'i
'S73-
the future corn market of the city. The total area of ground for exhibition purposes com-
prised within the surrounding fence was about 280 acres.
In arranging a method for grouping the exhibits, the double classification — as used in
Paris in 1867 — was not considered entirely satisfactory, and it was finally decided to adopt
a purely geographical arrangement — each nation to be kept to itself — and no systematic
classification to be recognized except such as might be obtained by providing separate
buildings for specific purposes, and exemplified in the Machinery Hall, the Art Gallery, etc.
The principal buildings for the exhibition were the Palace of Industry, or main exhibition
building, for mi.scellaneous manufactures, the Gallerj' of Fine Arts, the Machinery Hall and
the Agricultural Building. In addition to these were various other buildings for minor
purposes, similar to those distributed around the Main Exposition Building of Paris in the
Champs de Mars. These were of unprecedented variety and importance, representing on a
scale of great splendor and completeness the habits, manners, customs and methods of con-
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
struction of various nations. At the Paris Exposition of 1867 this idea was first worked
out as an international feature ; here, it was on a still grander scale, and the rivalry of the
nations of the Orient resulted in producing especial magnificence. The Palace of the Vice-
roy of Egypt was one of the most noticeable of these buildings. Designed by an Austrian
architect long resident in the East, and constructed by native Egyptian workmen with great
skill and truthfulness, it presented an appearance at once interesting and instructive. One
saw here a sumptuous mosque, decorated in the richest manner, an ordinary dwelling-house,
and then a regular farm and stable department stocked with dromedaries and other domestic
animals of Egypt. Then there were also on the grounds specimens of the national habi-
tations of Turkey, Persia, Morocco, Japan, Sweden, etc. Farmers' or peasants' homes from
all countries, restaurants and refreshment saloons, the Imperial Pavilion, the Jury Pavilion,
and special exhibits of all sorts, amounting in the aggregate to more than two thousand
buildings, each one presenting something novel and pleasing.
The Palace of Industry was designed in the style of the Italian Renaissance, elaborately
ornamented and finished on the exterior with that plaster-work which in Vienna has attained
such perfection. It had for a main central feature a grand rotunda, covered by an immense
conical wrought-iron dome or roof of 354 feet in diameter, a clief d'cciivrc of its designer,
Mr. Scott Russell, of England, and the largest by far that had ever been constructed before,
that of St. Peters, at Rome, being only 156 feet in diameter, and those of the London
Exhibition of 1862 only 160 feet. It was supported upon 32 wrought-iron rectangular columns
resting upon base-plates and founded upon concrete, and it was crowned by a central lantern
of 10 1 feet in diameter and 30 feet high, provided with side-lights and a similar conical roof
to the main dome. On top of this was another lantern 25 feet in diameter and 30 feet high,
which was surmounted in turn by a gigantic copy of the crown of Austria, formed of wrought-
iron plate, gilded, and decorated with glass imitations of the crown jewels.
Extending east and west from this central rotunda was a nave of 82 feet 10 inches in width
and 22 feet 6 inches in height, with a total length from east to west through the rotunda of
2953 feet. A circular corridor or passage, half the width of the nave, ran all around the
rotunda, connecting with the nave on both sides, and the columns carrying the dome, standing
between this passage and the rotunda, were finished in ornamental plaster on wooden framing,
with arches from one to the other, producing an exceedingly handsome effect. The floor of
the rotunda was lower than that of the rest of the building, and in the centre was a highly
ornamental fountain, adding very much to the general appearance. The interior of the conical
roof was covered with canvas, stretched as a velarium over the whole of its under surface.
Ixviii
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
divided into panels and decorated with colors in oil, each panel having painted on it in the
centre an angel twenty-one feet long, and the whole of the interior work being elaborately
picked out in gold and neutral colors.
There were cross-transepts, thirty-two in number, at intervals throughout the whole length
of the nave, extending through both on the north and south sides, and having a length from
face to face of 246 feet 3 inches. At the east and west ends of the nave the pairs of transepts
adjoining were connected together next to their outer faces, and treated architecturally as one,
producing an effective exterior appearance. The four transepts next to the circular passage
around the rotunda, were also joined together by courts parallel to the nave, forming with
these transepts a square of 676 feet exterior to the rotunda. The main entrance of which we
give a view on page Ixvi, was in the middle of the south side of this central square. It was
designed like a grand triumphal arch, having a central arched opening, flanked on the sides
by pairs of pilasters decorated between with niches, figure-subjects and medallions of the
Emperor and Empress, and the whole crowned by a group of emblematic figures in plaster.
The wings on the sides were arranged as arcades, and at the ends or corners of the square
were small pavilions designed in the same general style although on a smaller scale, as the
central entrance.
Concrete foundations were used under the permanent portions of the building, consisting
of the central dome and its surrounding courts, but the balance of the building was founded
upon timber piles. The framing of the side walls of the nave and transepts consisted of ver-
tical wrought-iron lattice columns of the lightest possible construction, standing on cast-iron
foundation-plates, which rested upon the piles below. Upon these columns were fi.xed the
trusses of the roof, consisting of segmental arches of the same lattice construction, connected
by timber purlins covered with sheathing braids and zinc roofing-metal. The spaces on the
sides of the building, between the vertical columns, were filled in with brickwork, plastered on
both sides, the outer flanges of the columns being encased in the brick. The weight of the
brick caused the outer foundations to settle more than the inner, consequently bulging the
inner flanges of the columns out of position, which was remedied by fixing solid pieces of
circular timber to them to stiffen them. These were finished with light wooden pedestals
and mouldings, and plaster capitals painted to resemble bronze, the smooth portion of the
columns being covered with crimson canvas ornamented with spiral lines of gold. Each
transept was lighted by twenty-six windows of 1 1 x 14 feet each, and in the nave were five
windows of 15x16 feet in each wall-space between the transepts, no skylights being used in
any part of the building.
The iron-work of the interior was painted an olive-green, the wooden cornices a creamy
gray color picked out with gold, and the under side of boarding of roof was calsomined.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
The lower portion of the side walls under the windows was painted in panels of a light
neutral green, and the parts between the windows covered with canvas in its natural color,
on which was printed an arabesque pattern in dark blue and orange. The interior decorations
were largely executed with colored canvas, the architect availing himself of an invention of
an Italian— M. Bossi, of Milan — who discovered how to print patterns on canvas with great
rapidity, producing, when put in position, all the effects of fresco at a very reasonable cost.
This style of decoration was exceedingly gorgeous in appearance and accorded well with the
tastes of the Vienna people.
The exterior effect of the temporary part of the edifice was not very striking. The plaster
work was moulded and laid off in blocks to represent stone, and the general appearance was
that of a long low line of gray buildings, broken at intervals by the transepts, the whole
covered by the monotonous, arched zinc roof The transepts were of much smaller dimen-
sions than the nave, the crown of the roof coming just under the eaves of the roof of the
nave, and in the end of each transept was a doorway surmounted by the coat-of-arms of the
particular country exhibiting within. The grand central rotunda was a necessity, not only as
a great hall for the
opening and other cere-
monies, but as the one
redeeming feature in the
architectural effect to re-
lieve the tameness that
would otherwise have
been produced. After
the construction of the
building, many of the
garden courts, between
adjacent transepts, were
covered over to provide
additional room for the
vast influx of exhibits.
In reference to the
arrangement of the arti-
cles exhibited, the south-
ern half of the central
courts and a portion of
the nave and eight tran-
septs east of the centre
were occupied by Aus-
tria. The other coun-
tries were arranged ac-
cording to their geogra-
phical positions, east or
west of Austria. Thus,
Germany took the cen-
tral courts north and
west of the rotunda.
Then, going west, came
Holland, Belgium,
France, etc., to the
United States, which
occupied the extreme
west end ; and on the east — next to Austria — were Hungary, Russia, etc., to Japan which
occupied the extreme east end. Any one possessing a knowledge of geography could thus
easily find the exhibits of any country he desired. The effect was to make a little exhibit
in itself of the display from each nation, the whole being a continuation of a series of small
exhibitions. The system adopted, however, made it extremely difficult to make comparisons
of similar products from different countries, especially those at a distance geographically from
each other.
To the east of the Palace of Industry was situated the Gallery of Fine Arts, entirely dis-
connected from it except by two galleries of communication. It was a building of brick,
covered with cement and plaster so as to produce an ornamental appearance, and about 650
feet long by 1 1 5 feet wide. It proving too small to contain all the exhibits, two annexes
were built, connected to it by covered passages, these passages containing works of sculpture.
Western Europe, Austria, Hungary, Germany, America and Greece were accommodated in
the Main Art Gallery ; Italy and Northern Europe in the annexes. The arrangements for
lighting were very successful and a great credit to the architect.
To the north of the Main Building and lying parallel to it, was the Machinery Hall, a
Ixx
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
building 2615 feet long and 164 feet wide, consisting of a nave about 92 feet wide and two
side aisles of 28 feet width in the clear each, the balance of the total width being taken up by
the walls, which were very heavy. The nave was used for machinery in motion and the side
aisles for machinery at rest.
The Agricultural Department was divided into two separate buildings, occupying together
about 426,500 square feet. They were built of timber, upon pile foundations and answered
their purposes very well.
Although the exhibition was far from being ready, yet it was opened at the time specified,
at twelve, noon, May 1st, with great splendor, notwithstanding an unfavorable state of the
weather. At the dawn of day immense crowds of people wended their way to the grounds,
every street and alley leading to the Prater being thronged. By nine o'clock an uninterrupted
string of carriages blocked the avenues, and many a man who desired to be present, and had
spent the whole morning on the road, was obliged — notwithstanding the rain and wind — to
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
Ixx
leave his carriage and go on foot in order to reach the site in time for the opening. Thousands
of people filled the enormous space under the dorne, and precisely at the given hour, the
coming of the Emperor was announced, and amid hymns from the United Musical Societies
of Vienna and the acclamations of the people, he passed into the splendidly adorned entrance,
escorted by the Director-General — Baron Swartz-Senborn — and accompanied by the Crown
Princess of the German Empire. Following in the train came the Crown Prince of the German
Empire and the Empress of Austria, then the Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince of Denmark,
the Duke of Flanders, and numerous other royal personages. The Grand Duke, Carl Ludwig,
as Protector, then addressed the Emperor and handed in his report of the undertaking. The
Emperor replied, followed by music. The President-Minister and the Mayor of Vienna then
addressed the Emperor, thanking him in the name of the people of Austria for the foundation
of the Exhibition and the assistance extended by the government to the great work. A
chant composed by Joseph Weiler and set to the "Song of Victory," in Handel's /Wa.r
Maccabeus, was then executed by the United Societies and the Exhibition was declared open.
In making a cursory review of the articles exhibited at Vienna, we may state that the dis-
play was the most extensive that had ever previously been made in any part of the world, and
Ixxii
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
the admirable way in which the exhibition had been carried out gave to it additional interest.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
Ixxiii
An examination of the departments of all the nations gave evidence of the rapid extension
of the knowledge of practical art and science to all parts of the world, equalizing civilization,
increasing the energy and creative power of mankind in general, and tending to ameliorate
the condition of the human race.
In reference to the machinery exhibits, great improvements had been made since the exhi-
bition of 1867. Germany came out in great force, and the American display, although much
smaller than that of many other countries, was full of original ideas and devices. Messrs.
Sharp, Stewart & Co., of the Atlas Works, England, and Messrs. William Sellers & Co., of
Philadelphia, stood as the typical machine manufacturers of their respective nations, and made
most admirable displays. The American productions, generally, were noted for originality,
the novelties being all improvements leading towards precision of work and saving of labor.
In drills, America still took the lead, and the Sellers' drill-sharpening machine was a work of
especial merit.
France made great displays through Deny and Arbey, of Paris, and the finest pair of
marine engines, perhaps, ever produced by any country were those exhibited by Schneider &
Co., of Paris. Switzerland exhibited a most remarkable lace-making machine capable of
working a hundred needles, and an object of great attraction both to experts and the general
public. Probably the finest and most beautiful heavy lathe was that of F. Zimmermann, of
Buda-Pesth, in Hungaria.
In those special and peculiar tools required in the manufacture of sewing-machines,
revolvers, firearms of every variety and fine instruments of all kinds, two firms, those of
Pratt & Whitney, of Hartford, and Brown & Sharpe, of Providence made unexcelled displays.
Ixxiv
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Messrs. Jones & Laughlin, of Pittsburgh, exhibited specimens of cold-rolled shafting that
attracted universal attention. A tub or bucket-making machine, by Baxter D. Whitney, was
one of the most interesting American exhibits, manufacturing a bucket complete in the short
time of five minutes. In reference to the exhibit of Stationary Engines, one of the most
noticeable facts was the great favor which the principle of the American Corliss Engine
seemed to have obtained in Europe, and the numerous imitations and modifications of it
displayed.
Never before had there been so fine an exhibit of Agricultural Machinery made as at
Vienna, and the display from Great Britain was very superior. The American Department
consisted more particularly of reapers and mowers.
In Pottery and Porcelain Ware the display was remarkable, and no branch of art had
shown so much improvement and the beneficial effects of international exhibitions as this did.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
Ixxv
We illustrate on page Ixvii two elaborate specimens of plates by the Messrs. Mintons, whose
ceramic display was immense and in the highest style of art. A curious and interesting col-
lection of Moorish pottery was exhibited by Dr. Maximilian Schmidl, Austro-Hungarian
Consul in that country, showing the soft, friable potteiy manufactured there in every different
style of decoration, from the refined moresque to the bizarre mixtures of green, yellow and
blue enamels. Hans Macht, of Vienna, exhibited a beautiful little box in Limousine enamel,
of which we. engrave a side view on page Ixviii. Some beautiful water-jars and mugs were
exhibited by F. W. Merkelbach, which are shown on page Ixix, the designs of which were
considered remarkably fine. An enameled vase by Christofle & Co., of Paris, engraved on
HIS T R I CA L IN TRODUC TI N.
page Ixx, — very graceful in form and beautifully ornamented with birds and flowers, was
admired by all who saw it.
In reference to Ornamental Terra-Cotta for building and decorative purposes, the establish-
ment of Herr Paul March, of Charlottenburg-by-Berlin, had no superior. His principal
exhibit was a raised garden-alcove seat, the floor laid in encaustic tiles of the most har-
monious colors and tasteful designs, the seat and its back in. glazed faience, arranged in a
semicircle and decorated with fruit and leaves in majolica, and on a low wall, terra-cotta
columns of the most exquisite design, upon which was placed a wooden trellis for climbing
plants.
Among the most remarkable of the Porcelain specialties from France were the decorative
plaques shown by M. Leon Parvillee, a celebrated architect of Paris. The designs were made
after the very best period of Moorish art, and M. Parvillee's reputation is so great in this
INTERNA TIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
respect that even Turkey itself has made use of his skill. The peculiarity in the enamels he
uses is such that they will not run, however highly they are fired, and the result is that the
outlines of the designs are preserved in all their beauty, producing almost the effect of
cloisonne enamels. Japan made one of the most creditable, interesting and instructive dis-
plays of porcelain and pottery exhibited by any nation, and obtained many medals of award.
In the Department of Glassware, no previous exhibition ever made a display equal to this.
Situated as Vienna is, with Hungary, Bohemia, Venice and Bavaria in proximity, it was but
natural that all should strive to attain great excellence, and anticipation in this matter was not
disappointed. France and Great Britain, perhaps owing to their greater distance from the
scene of action, did not make the display that might have been expected of them, although
what Great Britain did send was good. The exhibits of Mr. James Green and Messrs. Pellatt
& Co., of London were unsurpassed. A superb chandelier, by the former, and a large ewer and
wash-hand-basin, by the latter, — probably the largest piece of cut flint-glass ever manufactured
in England — were among the specimens. Many of the designs exhibited gave evidence of the
high position which Japanese art has gained within the last few years in the tastes of the
European world ; and some of the specimens designed in this style were exceedingly charming
and artistic.
M. Constant- Vales, of Paris, exhibited imitation pearls so perfect as to deceive the eye
completely, and for which he obtained a progress medal. MM. Regat & Sons, of Paris, also
received a medal for their exquisite imitation gems.
In the Italian Section, the Venetian glass of Dr. Salviati was one of the greatest attrac-
tions of the Exhibition. By using the works of the old masters as models, studying by every
means in his power to equal them, Salviati has, year by year, approached nearer and nearer to
perfection.
Nothing approaches the Venetian glass in its creative fancy. Professor Archer, in his
official report on Glass to the British Government, says: "The glass-blower of Venice, like
a child blowing bubbles, throws them off with ease and rapidity, producing with every touch
of his fingers new forms of beauty, which gladden his own eyes as much as the ever-differing
rainbow hues of the child's soap-bubble. In everything appertaining to the blown, pinched
and moulded glass of the Venetian artist there is an exuberance of fancy, and he conjures up
forms always new, and always graceful and beautiful."
The greatest specialty of the Salviati Company was their mosaics, of which they exhibited
some magnificent pieces. Tomassi e Gelsomini, of Venice, also displayed some beautiful glass
cloths of spun glass and beads, resembling embroideries.
Among the German exhibits of glass, which, as a general thing, were not specially remark-
able, we may mention those of H. Wentzel & Son, of Breslau, of which we engrave specimens
on page Ixxi.
The display of Austrian, Hungarian and Bohemian glass was immen.se; but the Bohemian
glass, although very superior, was not equal to the Venetian, lacking the beautiful transparency
of the material, and the artistic forms which may be produced.
We present from the Furniture Department an engraving — shown on page Ixxii — of an
exceedingly ornate grand-piano in ebony and gilt, after a design by Storcks, executed by
Boesendorfer, in Vienna. Some chairs in stamped-leather work by B. Ludwig, of Vienna, —
which we engrave on page l.xxiii — were among the handsome exhibits. We also give an
engraving on page Ixxiv of a cabinet or case for hunting apparatus, of excellent design, exe-
cuted in stained oak by H. Irmler, of Vienna, from drawings by C. Graff.
The display of Carpets v/as very great and varied. We engrave on page Ixxv a design
exhibited by Shuetz & Juet, of Wurzen, which shows great taste.
A beautiful flower-vase in gilt-bronze, executed by Hollenbach from a design by Claus, of
Ixxviii
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Vienna, was among the exhibits, and we are glad to be able to give a picture of it, which is
represented on page Ixxvi.
We close the very few engravings of the exhibits which our limited space has allowed us
to present, by a representation — seen above — of an Album-cover, in enamel painting, in
possession of the Grand Duke Rainer, the design for which was made by J. Storch and F.
Laufberger, of Vienna, and fully explains itself.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS. lx>
There were five different medals awarded at Vienna : —
1. Medal for Fine Arts.
2. Medals for Good Taste.
3. Medals for Progress.
4. Medals for Co-operators.
5. Medals for Merit.
These medals were all of the same size and of bronze, bearing on the obverse the portrait
of His Majesty, the Emperor, with the inscription, " Franz Joseph I, Kaiser von Oesterreich,
Koenig von Boehmen, etc. Apost. Koenig von Ungarm ;" and on the reverse side artistic
emblems, varying with the different medals.
The announcement of awards was made August i8th, with very little ceremony. There
were in all two thousand six hundred and two awards, as follows: —
421 Diplomas of Honor
3,024 Medals for Progress.
10,465 Diplomas of Honorable Mention.
8,800 Medals for Merit.
326 Medals for Good Taste.
978 Medals for Fine Arts.
1,988 Medals awarded to Workmen, etc.
The Society of Arts and Manufactures in Vienna also distributed, on the 27th of Sep-
tember, in the beautiful hall of " Gewerbevrein," in the presence of Arch-Duke Charles Louis,
Arch-Duke Rainer, several Ministers of State, Baron Schwarz-Senborn and others, a number
of silver medals to deserving foremen of all the countries represented at the Exhibition.
There were one hundred and thirty-four silver medals, with diplomas, awarded, exercising a
most excellent moral effect.
The Exhibition closed on November 2d, the total number of exhibitors being about seven
thousand.
The total cost of buildings and accessories amounted to ^7,850,000, and the total receipts
for visitors, from the opening until the close, amounted to $1,283,648.78. There were con-
siderable additions to the revenue from other sources — rents for space, concessions for various
purposes and the sale of the buildings — but far from enough to cover the total cost and
expenses, and a heavy deficit had to be met by the government. The Main Building itself,
from its peculiar form and mode of construction, was unnecessarily expensive, and was not
a success either in interior or exterior effect.
While the indirect benefits to Vienna and the rest of Au.stria may have been great, the
direct result was a positive loss and a considerable disappointment.
In the United States, local exhibitions had been a common event for many years. The
Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia — founded in 1824 — early initiated a system of exhibitions
for the purpose of promoting the Mechanic Arts, awarding medals and premiums to inventors,
manufacturers and mechanics. Its first exhibition was held in Carpenters' Hall, in the autumn
of 1824, attracting large crowds of people, and was attended with most fortunate results.
These exhibitions were continued, at intervals, for many years, increasing in public favor
and usefulness. The last was held on the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute in 1874, in a
building covering an area of two acres available space on the ground-floor, with a large cellar
for storage, and a four-stor\' corner building for offices. It was the largest exhibition ever
Ixxx
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
held in Philadelphia, the profits added greatly to the revenues of the Institute, and in every
respect it was a complete success.
The American Institute, of New York, has for many years held similar exhibitions with
the most satisfactory results; and, of late years, both Cincinnati and Chicago have held
annual Expositions of Industrial Art in large, permanent buildings erected for the purpose,
resulting in great success, both financi^llv and in regard to the advantages derived from them
by the exhibitors.
aSsJ!^-««
^;t^
HISTORY
OF THE
EXHIBITION
IIY
|OS. M. WILSON.
Entered, aeeordUtg to Act of Congest, in the year jSjS. ^Jf GUBBIU & BARRIE,
in the Office of the Librarian of Otngvtss, at Washinston.
The International Exhibition, 1876.
kATHER more than two hundred and fifty years ago, a veteran navigator
from the old world, in voyaging along the coasts of the then newly-dis-
covered Western Hemisphere, drifted into a magnificent and hitherto
unknown inlet, the exit of a noble river. The navigator was Henry
Hudson — the inlet was Delaware Bay.
A few years later, the Dutch Government — at that time the great
commercial nation of the age — perceiving the great advantages that
might accrue by the ownership of this location, acquired the right to it by purchase,
and incorporated a company for trading purposes, taking possession of the ground
and erecting a stockade called Fort Nassau, at a place now known as Gloucester,
' on the east shore of the river, some three miles below the site of the present city
of Philadelphia.
The banks of the river and bay were rapidly colonized, principally by Swedes and
Dutch, each party claiming for its own government the land upon which it settled, and conten-
tions continually took place between the two nationalities, until, finally, the whole west bank of
the river passed under the control of the Dutch, who held possession of it until 1664, when it
came under the jurisdiction of the English government, on articles of capitulation to Sir
Robert Carr for his Royal Highness, the Duke of York, afterwards King James the Second.
In 1672, by the fortunes of war, it again fell into possession of the Dutch, but onl)' for a few
months, when, by the terms of a treaty of peace between England and the States General, the
country came back once more under British rule.
In the early part of the seventeenth century, a religious sect had arisen in England
under the guidance of one George Fox, whose adherents were remarkable for their sim-
plicity of manner and dress, great mildness and forbearance, fine moral nature, mutual
charity, the love of God, and a deep attention to the inward motions and secret operations
of the spirit. They were characterized by great disposition to peace and opposition to vio-
lence and warfare, and were in every way a veritable " Society of Friends." Suffering perse-
cution in their own country, they desired rest and happiness on a foreign shore.
Ixxxiv
HISTOR Y OF THE
In the year 1680, a distinguished member of this fraternity, William Penn, whose father had
been an admiral in the British Navy, petitioned King Charles the Second, in consideration of
large public debts due his father by the Crown, to grant him from his possessions in the
New World that tract of land now known as Pennsylvania, and bounded on the east by the
Delaware River, including, therefore, the possessions of the Duke of York on the west shore,
and already settled by Swedes and Dutch. Here he hoped to establish a settlement where
the members of his society could obtain that peace which they were unable to procure at
home.
The King granted the desired letters-patent in 168 1, and the considerations under which
Jury FavUion.
the grant was given were " the commendable desire of William Penn to enlarge the British
Empire and promote useful commodities ; to reduce the savage natives by just and gentle
manners to the love of civil society and Christian religion," together with " a regard to the
memory and merits of his late father."
Penn — having obtained a release from the Duke of York of his previous claim upon the
province — immediately despatched a small number of emigrants to take possession of the
country, and the following year sailed himself, landing at New Castle, in Delaware, on the
24th of October, 1682. The original settlers— of which there were quite a number at various
points along the coast, the Swedes predominating — received him with every manifestation of
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Ixxxv
welcome, "judging that all conflicting pretensions to the soil would now cease," promising to
" love, serve and obey him," and adding " that it was the best day they had ever seen." On
the 4th of December he called an assembly at Upland (now Chester), and passed all the laws
which had been agreed upon previously, and also others, the law concerning " Liberty of
Conscience" being placed at the head of the list.
Philadelphia, the city of " Brotherly Love," was immediately laid out, and as the site
selected was already in possession of the Swedes, an exchange was proposed and accepted
Court of Fmatice Budding,
by them for other land in the vicinity. The plan, covering a space of twelve and a-half
square mjles, was afterwards considered on entirely too extensive a scale, and it underwent
considerable modifications in 1701, reducing the area to two square miles and limiting the
boundaries to the Delaware on the east, the Schuykill on the west. Vine Street on the north,
and Cedar (now South) Street on the south. Beyond Cedar Street were the Swedish settle-
ments, and some of their old landmarks remain to the present day, notably the old Swedes'
Church, consecrated on the 2d day of July, 1700.
Ixxxvi HISTORY OF THE
Time has proved that Penn was wiser than those who came after him, since, in less than
two hundred years, the city has stretched out far beyond the Hmits imposed upon it in 1701,
and now the ihickly-inhabited portion alone occupies more than four times the space originally
determined upon for its area by Penn.
The city grew and prospered under its friendly and liberal rule, and although it received
accessions to its inhabitants from all countries and of all sects, yet the Quaker influence
predominated, and gave that solid, steady tone to society and aversion to mere outward dis-
play for which Philadelphia was so famous, traces of which may be found to the present day.
When the troubles arose with the mother-country — nearly a century after its foundation — the
city took an active part in colonial affairs. It had at this time increased to a population
of 28,000, contained nearly 5,500 dwellings, had an extensive commerce, and ranked as first
among the cities of the Colonies. The first Continental Congress assembled here in 1774,
holding its meetings in Carpenters' Hall, a building situated south of Chestnut Street,
between Third and Fourth, — .still standing and kept in excellent preservation by the Car-
penters' Company, to whom it belongs.
During the Revolution, Congress continued to hold its meetings in Philadelphia with
but few exceptions, and the Declaration of Independence was adopted here July 4th, 1776,
and first read publicly from a stand in the State-House yard by John Nixon, July Stli, follow-
ing. The old Independence Bell, cracked and out of use, is still preserved in the hall of the
State-House, as a memento of the times when it " proclaimed liberty throughout the land, and
to all the inhabitants thereof" In this place the present Constitution of the United States
was adopted by the Convention which met for the purpose in May, 1787 ; the first President of
the United States resided here; and on this s[)ot Congress assembled for some ten years after
the adoption of the Constitution, until the removal of the seat of government to Washington.
When, therefore, the Centennial Anniversary of this great Republic approached, and the
success of its form of government bad become no longer an experiment, even in the eyes of
the old monarchies of Europe, but an established fact, it seemed expedient that some effort
should be made to properly celebrate this great event, — this birthda\' of freedom. A hundred
years ago this young nation had struggled for existence ; now she has established her
position as one of the great powers of the -world. What more fitting, then, than that she
should commemorate this centennial of her life by an International Exhibition of Arts,
Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine.
Inviting all the other principalities of the globe to unite with her in a competitive display,
she could show for herself the greatest progress that had ever been made in the world's
history in the same length of time, — an advancement without a parallel, fully entitling her to
a foremost position among the nations of the earth. And what locality more eminently suit-
able for this celebration than Philadelphia? the birth-place of the nation, and the hallowed
site of so many passages in her early historj'.
As the anniversary approached, the project was discussed in an informal way by many,
and it only needed a move to start it into action. This initiatory move was taken by the
Franklin Institute, the subject having been first brought forward at a regular meeting of
the Board of Managers, held August nth, 1869, and the discussion which followed led
INTERNATIONAL EX H I B I T 1 N, 1 8 7 6. Ixxxvii
to the appointment of a special committee for the purpose of considering the question,
and the advisability of memorializing Congress in regard to such an exhibition, to be held
in Philadelphia in 1876 under the auspices of the Institute. At the next regular meetino-
of the Board, the month following, this committee reported, and stated that it did not
consider it expedient for the Franklin Institute to place itself in the prominent position
of patron to this enterprise, although at the same time it was of opinion that the Institute
should use its utmost efforts to secure the proposed National Exhibition in the city of
Philadelphia, and the committee also stated that "if such a celebration were combined
with an exhibition of those arts and manufactures for which this country is so justly
celebrated, and to which she owes so much of her • material prosperity and greatness,
there would be an additional reason for adopting this site, as no other city possessed such
advantages as are afforded by the vast industrial works of Philadelphia." The action
taken by the Board resulted in the appointment of a new committee to take the subject
in charge, and this committee was instructed, on December 8th, to prepare a letter to the
Select and Common Councils of the city of Philadelphia, explaining the action of the
Institute and the reasons therefor, and requesting Councils to memorialize Congress on
the subject. This letter, which was duly presented to each chamber of Councils through
the mayor of the city, so clearly enunciated, even at this early date of the enterprise, the
objects which are now being carried out, that we consider it worthy of reproduction in
full, as follows : —
"The Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania (the first founded of institutions
of its kind in this country), being mindful of what may conduce to the credit and pros-
perity of thj cit\' of its location, has resolved through its Hoard of Managers that it will
be expedient to celebrate the Centennial Anniversar)' of our national existence by an
International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of Soil and Mines, to be
held upon grounds which, it is hoped, may be obtained within Fairmount Park for this
purpose.
"It would seem eminently proper that such an Hxhibition should be the form of cele-
bration selected, and that this city should be the spot chosen by the nation for a national
celebration at that time. There, was written and given to the world that Declaration
which called our nation into existence ; there, the laws which guided its infancy first took
place ; there, it began its march to benefit the human race. Under the laws there
established, and in the nation there created, all arts and sciences have progressed in an
unparalleled degree, and it is believed that the form of celebration indicated would be
emblematic of their progress. The historical relations alone of our city should entitle it
to selection for such a celebration; but apart from its claim as the birthplace of our
Government, its geographical position, its railroads and navigation facilities, and its abun-
dant means of accommodation for large numbers of strangers, all add to its claim and
fitness to be selected for such a purpose.
" In consequence of these conditions the subscribers have been appointed a committee
to bring the subject to your notice, and to request that your honorable bodies will
Ixxxviii
HISTORY OF THE
memorialize Congress upon the subject for the purpose of obtaining that aid which will
make such an Exhibition truly international in its character.
(Signed),
William Sellers,
Frederick Fraley,
Enoch Lewis,
Coleman Sellers,
B. H. Moore."
Untrance, Main Building.
The communication was received with favor by Councils and warmly supported, a
committee of nine being appointed from each chamber to take charge of the matter, and
to arrange for laying it before Congress. The question was also brought up before the
State Legislature at Harrisburg, and similar action was taken, a committee being delegated
from each House to act in conjunction with the committee of City Councils. These com-
mittees and also a special committee from the Franklin Institute, acting jointly, visited
Washington and had an interview with the House Committee of Congress on Manufac-
tures, presenting a memorial prepared for the occasion, which was favorably received, and
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
^
HIS TOR V OF THE
a draft of an Act prepared and presented to Congress through the committee, resulting
in the passage of the following Act of Congress, approved March 3d, 1871: —
"An Act to provide for celebrating the One Hundredth Anniversary of American
Independence by holding an International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products
of the Soil and Mine, in the City of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, in the year
eighteen hundred and seventy-six.
" Whereas, the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America was pre-
pared, signed and promulgated in the year seventeen hundred and seventy-six in the city
of Philadelphia ; and whereas, it behooves the people of the United States to celebrate, by
appropriate ceremonies, the Centennial Anniversary of this memorable and decisive event,
which constituted the fourth day of July, Anno Domini seventeen hundred and seventy-
six, the birthday of the nation; and whereas, it is deemed fitting that the completion of
the first century of our national existence shall be commemorated by an exhibition of the
national resources of the country and their development, and of its progress in those
arts which benefit mankind in comparison with those of older nations; and whereas, no
place is so appropriate for such an exhibition as the city in which occurred the event it
is designed to commemorate; and whereas, as the exhibition should be a national cele-
bration, in which the people of the whole country should participate, it should have the
sanction of the Congress of the United States ; therefore —
"Section I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That an exhibition of American and foreign
arts, products and manufactures shall be held under the auspices of the Government of
the United States, in the city of Philadelphia, in the year eighteen hundred and
seventy-six.
"Section 2. That a Commission, to consist of not more than one delegate from each
State, and from each territory of the United States, whose functions shall continue until
the close of the Exhibition, shall be constituted, whose duty it shall be to prepare and
superintend the execution of a plan for holding the Exhibition; and, after conference with
the authorities of the city of Philadelphia, to fix upon a suitable site within the corporate
limits of the said city, where the Exhibition shall be held.
"Section 3. That the said Commissioners shall be appointed within one year from the
passage of this Act by the President of the United States, on the nomination of the
governors of the States and territories respectively.
"Section 4. That in the same manner there shall be appointed one Commissioner
from each State and territory' of the United States, who shall assume the place and per-
form the duties of such Commissioner and Commissioners as may be unable to attend
the meetings of the Commission.
"Section 5. That the Commission shall hold its meetings in the city of Philadelphia,
and that a majority of its members shall have full power to make all needful rules for
its government.
"Section 6. That the Commission shall report to Congress, at the first session after
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
its appointment, a suitable date for opening and for closing the Exhibition, a schedule of
appropriate ceremonies for opening or dedicating the same, a plan or plans of the build-
ings, a complete plan for the reception and classification of articles intended for exhibition,
the requisite custom-house regulations for the introduction into this country of the articles
from foreign countries intended for exhibition, and such other matters as in their judgment
may be important.
"Section 7. That no compensation for services shall be paid to the Commissioners or
other officers provided by this Act, from the treasury of the United States; and the United
States shall not be liable for any expenses attending such Exhibition, or by reason of
the same.
"Section 8. That whenever the President shall be informed by the Governor of the
State of Pennsylvania that provision has been made for the erection of suitable buildings
for the purpose, and for the exclusive control by the Commission herein provided for, of
the proposed Exhibition, the President shall, through the Department of State, make
proclamation of the same, setting forth the time at which the Exhibition will open, and
the place at which it will be held; and he shall communicate to the diplomatic represen-
tatives of all nations copies of the same, together with such regulations as may be adopted
by the Commissioners, for publication in their respective countries."
The enterprise had now been placed upon a foundation, and the first really progressive
step had been made in the work. The various Commissioners were in due time appointed,
but no provision had been made to call them together until the city of Philadelphia, in
October, 187 1, issued an invitation for them to meet in March, 1872, and made an appro-
priation to cover their expenses. This invitation was accepted, and the first meeting of
the Commission was held March 4th, 1872, at the Continental Hotel in Philadelphia. It
continued in session until March nth, a thorough organization being effected, the Hon.
Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, elected President, and the necessary special committees
appointed and assigned their respective duties. The location for the proposed Exhibition
was also fixed at Fairmount Park, and a Committee on Plans and Architecture instructed
to report at the next session, and furnish sketches of plans for a building adapted to a
double classification, similar to that of Paris, 1867, and to cover fifty acres of floor-space,
estimates of cost to be furnished at the same time.
The second session commenced on May 22d following, and continued until May 29th.
It was discovered that very little material progress could be made without pecuniary means,
and that the first requisite was to take some measures for obtaining the funds required.
This, as the special work of the Executive Committee, the Hon. D. J. Morrell being chair-
man, received most attentive consideration, and on the recommendation of this committee
it was decided not to ask for National or State aid, but to rely upon the people, trusting
that their patriotism, ability and will could be depended upon, under a proper and sys-
tematic business organization, to provide the money needed for the enterprise, and also to
furnish that general support and cooperation so essential to secure nationality and success
to the Centennial celebration.
HISTOR V OF THE
To this end "It was concluded to apply to Congress for the charter of a corporation
to be called the 'Centennial Board of Finance,' which should have power, under the direc-
tion of the Centennial Commission, to raise money upon the sale of stock, and to attend
^
Horticultural Hall.
to all duties necessary to bring the work of the Exhibition to a successful issue." The
Act creating this corporation passed Congress and was approved June 1st, 1872. Its
distinct purpose was declared to be that of raising funds for the preparation and conduct
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
H. Bisbinl. Dtl.
Hoi-ticuUural Hall.
HISTORY OF THE
of the Exhibition, and it was empowered to secure subscriptions of capital stock not
exceeding ten millions of dollars, to be divided into shares of ten dollars each, the proceeds
from the sale of this stock and from all other sources to be used for the erection of suitable
buildings and fixtures, and for all other expenses required to carry out the Exhibition as
designed. The Centennial Board of Finance to prepare the grounds and erect the buildings,
all plans, however, to be previously adopted by the Centennial Commission, and the Com-
mission also to fix and establish all rules or regulations governing rates for "entrance"
and "admission" fees, or otherwise affecting the rights, privileges or interests of the
exhibitors or the public. No grant conferring rights or privileges of any description con-
nected with the grounds or buildings, or relating to the Exhibition, to be made without
the consent of the Commission, which would have the power to control, change or revoke
all such grants, and appoint all judges and examiners, and award all premiums. It was
also provided that the Centennial Board of Finance should, as soon as practicable after
the close of the Exhibition, convert its property into cash, and, after the payment of all
liabilities, divide its remaining assets among the stockholders pro-rata, in full satisfaction
and discharge of its capital stock.
At the close of the third session of the Commission, which took place in December,
1872, very little real progress had been made in the organization of the Centennial Board
of Finance. The Executive Committee had been occupied in this work, and in publishing
and issuing circulars and addresses to the people, informing them what had been done, and
calling their attention to the mode of making stock subscriptions. A design for a seal
was at this time adopted by the Commission, it being circular in shape, about two inches
in diameter, with the official title, "The United States Centennial Commission," between
inner and outer concentric circles, and in the centre a vignette view of Independence Hall
as it appeared in 1776, and beneath the vignette the prophetic sentence, " Proclaim liberty
throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," which was cast on the State-
house bell that rang out the first announcement of the adoption of the Declaration of
Independence.
Nothing had been accomplished by the Committee on Plans and Architecture, as no
funds were at its disposal, and nothing could be done without them. The Committee
received instructions, however, to advertise for plans whenever the necessary funds could
be obtained, expending a sum as they deemed best, not exceeding twenty thousand dollars.
To cover the incidental expenses of the Commission, Philadelphia appropriated the sum
of fifty thousand dollars, and permanent offices were secured and books opened for sub-
scriptions to stock in accordance with the provisions of the Act creating the Centennial
Board of Finance. At the end of the year 1872, the prospects of the Exhibition looked
very discouraging, many of those best qualified to give an opinion declaring its success
exceedingly problematical, and some going so far as to say it was impossible. Fortunately,
however, the Commission possessed an Executive Committee of great ability and tenacity
of purpose, who were determined to give the matter a vigorous trial.
The Citizens' Centennial Finance Committee, which had been previously organized, and
through whom had been obtained the above-mentioned appropriation of fifty thousand
INTERNATIONAL EXHIB ITION, 1876.
dollars from the city of Philadelphia, was given charge of the work, and under this Com-
mittee were placed sub-committees of the citizens of every trade, occupation, profession,
and interest in Philadelphia, whose object was to obtain subscriptions to the Centennial
stock. Every means was used to awaken the interest of the city, and through it, that of
the country at large, and within sixty days all doubts were dispelled and success assured.
The city of Philadelphia promptly subscribed one-half million of dollars, and the State of
Pennsylvania one million, conditioned upon the subscription of the city, the whole to be
appropriated for the erection of a permanent building in Fairmount Park, to remain
perpetually as the property of the people of the State for their improvement and enjoy-
ment, a depository of articles valuable either on account of association with important
national events, or as illustrating the progress of civilization and the arts in this new country,
and a worthy memorial of an event of which any nation might be proud.
On the 22d of February, 1873, an imposing mass-meeting was held with the most
beneficial results, and before the time of the fourth session of the Commission in May,
more than three millions of dollars had been subscribed, including the State and city
donations ; public interest had been aroused everywhere ; information had been scattered
by the press in all directions, and inquiries as to what was proposed to be done came
pouring in from all quarters, and even from foreign countries. The question was taken up
by the various States, a number of them strongly commending the project, promising their
hearty cooperation, and issuing instructions to their members of Congress to support all
measures requisite for making the Exhibition a success worthy of the nation and of the
great men and events it was intended to commemorate.
It seemed especially desirable that full information should be obtained by the Com-
mission in reference to the organization and working of the Vienna Exhibition then in
progress, and the Executive Committee for this purpose sent abroad early in March one
of their own members, Prof W. P. Blake, a gentleman who had been principally in charge
of the work of classification, and who was thoroughly conversant personally with all details
of the Paris Exhibition of 1867. It was important also in connection with this that com-
plete plans should be obtained of the buildings of the Vienna Exposition, and thorough
data as to their mode of construction, adaptability to their purposes, &c., and that similar
information should be procured concerning all previous great exhibitions. For this object
Mr. Henry Pettit, an accomplished civil engineer, highly recommended, was appointed and
sent abroad about the same time as a special agent. It may be mentioned in this connection
that Mr. Pettit generously gave his services gratuitously to the Commission, with an allow-
ance of only actual expenses.
In the winter of 1873 one of the most effective helps that the cause ever had was
organized under the auspices of the Citizens' Centennial Finance Committee, in the shape
of the "Women's Centennial Committee of Pennsylvania." Thirteen patriotic women,
residents of Philadelphia, were appointed an executive committee and officially recognized
on F"ebruary 24th. Mrs. E. D. Gillespie, a lady of wonderful talent and administrative
ability, a descendant of Franklin, was elected president, and continued to occupy that
position, throughout the entire time of its organization, with marked skill and surprising
HIS TOR V OF THE
success — the great work accomplished by Mrs. Gillespie and her zealous aids being one of
the most prominent features in the history of the Centennial.
The organization of the Centennial Board of P^inance was fully completed in April,
1873, ^ board of twenty-five directors being elected by the stockholders — John Welsh
appointed president; William Sellers, first vice-president; and Thomas Cochran, temporary
secretary; and the E.xhibition work was fairly started upon a sound business footing, with
a considerable capital already subscribed, a corps of officers of lemarkable efficiency and
ability and the highest standing, antl every prospect of success. Mr. Frederick Fraley,
of Philadelphia, a gentleman distinguished for his abilities and integrity, was afterwards
regularly ajJiJointed secretary and treasurer, and continued to hold that position permanently.
Exhibition of Enj^lisk Rhododendrons.
Funds being now provided, invitations were issued on the first day of April of this
year for preliminary designs for the Main Exhibition Building and Art Gallery. In order
to induce any one who had an idea on the subject to bring it forward, so that the Com-
mission could, if it wished, avail itself of every suggestion that might be offered, whether
by a professional man or not, this invitation was made as broad as possible, and architects
and others were requested to submit sketches and plans under an unlimited public com-
petition. A. detailed specification of what was desired was issued to competing parties,
INTERNATIONAL ENHIBITION, 1S76.
and it was requested that the designs be handed in before noon on the 15th day of July
following.
It was during the fourth session of the Commission in May that the position of
director-general was created, the Hon. Alfred T. Goshorn of Ohio being chosen at the
annual election to fill the place.
The eventful public ceremony of this year was the formal transfer by the Park Com-
mission, on the 4th of July, of the grounds which had been selected for the use of the
Exhibition, at Fairmount Park, to the Centennial Commission. The ceremonial was
performed in the presence of the various official dignities of the Government, the State
The RU-v,iU\l Railwav across the Rav
and the city, the members of the Centennial and Park Commissions, and numerous invited
guests. After assembling at Independence Hall, and being formally presented to the
mayor of the city, they were driven out to the Park, where a handsomely decorated stand
had been erected on the site intended for Memorial Hall, and in front of which was a
flagstaff, with a flag furled at the top and ready to be thrown to the breeze at the proper
moment. Beyond lay the Lansdowne plateau, scattered over with crowds of people and
troops.
After the ceremony had been opened with prayer by Bishop Simpson, the Hon. Morton
McMichael, President of the Park Conmiission, delivered an eloquent address and made a
H J STORY OF THE
formal transfer of the 'grounds to the United States Centennial Commission. President
Hawley in accepting the transfer, replied by an able speech, closing as follows: "In token
that the United States Centennial Commission now takes possession of these grounds for
the purpose we hn\e described, let the flag be unfurled and dul\- saluted." As the last
words fell from the speaker's lips, the flag of the nation was thrown to the breeze and
saluted by thirteen guns. Announcement was then made by Governor Hartranft, of the
State of Pennsylvania, to the effect that in accordance with the conditions of the Act of
Congress in relation to the Centennial Celebration, as sufficient provision had been made
for the erection of suitable buildings for the purpose of the International Exhibition, he
felt it his duty to certify the same to the President of the United States, and had for-
warded him a certificate to that effect duly signed. The Hon. George M. Robeson, Secretary
of the Navy, and delegated representative of the President of the United States, who was
absent on account of the death of his father, then presented, in the President's name, a
"Proclamation," announcing the holding of an International Exhibition in the city of
Philadelphia in 1876, and commending the same to the people of the United States and
to all nations who might be pleased to take part therein. The ceremonies were concluded
by Secretary Robeson, who stated that " in making this proclamation the President desired
to express his deep personal interest in the objects of the great enterprise, his .s)-mpathy
with the patriotic endeavors being made, and his appreciation of the fitness of the place and
the occasion designated, his earnest desire that 'ail nations' would take part in this triumph
of human industry and skill, on the great memorial occasion of a people whose energies
are drawn from every land, ami his hope and confidence that in its spirit and its success
the ' Exhibition and Celebration' would remain a lasting illustration of peace and civilization,
of domestic and international friendship and intercourse, and of the vitality of tliose great
principles which lie at the foundation of human progress, and upon which depend our
national strength, development and safety." The proclamation and a copy of the general
regulations of the Commission were forwarded officially to each foreign Government and
also to each minister of the United States accredited to a foreign Government.
In response to the invitation issued for plans, it was announced on July i6th that forty-
three plans had been submitted. Of these, ten were selected as admitted to a second
competition and worthy of the award of ;$iooo to each. The names of the successful
competitors were made known on August 8th, and the conditions, requirements and awards
of the second competition on August iith, not differing materially from those of the first
competition, which were still in force.
The second competition designs were put in on September 30th, and the awards upon
them were decided about the end of October, as follows : —
Collins and Autenrieth ist award, . . . $4000
Samuel Sloan 2d award, . . . S3000
John McArthur, Jr., & Joseph M. Wilson, . . 3d award, . . . S2000
H. A. & J. P. Sims, 4th award, . . $1000
INTERNATIONAL EXIIIB ITION, 1876.
The Committee reported that all of these designs showed great care, skill and labor on
the part of the several engineers and architects in carrying out the requirements of the
specifications, each possessing so many points of excellence that the Committee was very
much embarrassed in its efforts to arrive at a practical conclusion in the matter. It stated
that many additional points of great importance had presented themselves in regard to the
buildings, after the issue of the specifications for the second competition, which would neces-
sitate more or less modification in any design adopted. In making the awards, however, the
relative merits of the different designs were decided upon, solely with regard to their meeting
the requirements stated in the specifications. This action was, of course, the only just one
to the competing parties, but resulted in giving the awards to some designs which were
radically different from what the Committee at the time of the award deemed it advisable
to erect. No one of the designs, " in its judgment, could be considered as representing in
an entirely satisfactory manner what was required for the Centennial buildings;" and the
Committee, in examining the designs and considering the subject in all its bearings and
requirements, came to the following conclusions : That it was not feasible to erect an Art
Building and Memorial Hall as two distinct structures, but that the Memorial Hall should
be built separate from the Main Exhibition Building, and used during the Exhibition for the
purposes of an Art Gallery, a building covering one and a half acres of ground being ample
for the requirements (the original specification required five acres of space in the Memorial
Hall); that the Main Exhibition Building should be a temporary construction, covering at
least thirty acres of ground, and capable of extension if required, rectangular in plan and
without galleries, the interior arrangement to allow of vistas and attractive promenades, and
in the construction the reduplication of parts to be an essential feature, iron and brick being
largely used to secure against risk of fire, and the material to be worked up in such details
of construction that it could be sold for fair prices after the Exhibition closed ; vertical side-
light to have preference to overhead-light; domes, towers and central massive features to be
ignored as too ambitious and expensive, and the building to trust for its impressiveness to
its great size and proper treatment of its elevations, and to its interior vistas and arrange-
ments, and not to any central feature erected at great expense for only a few months. They
also decided that there should be a separate building for a Machinery Hall, covering ten
acres; one for the Agricultural Hall, covering five acres; and a Conservatory.
The Committee had a modified plan prepared for the Main Exhibition Building and
presented for adoption, being an adaptation of a plan submitted by Messrs. Calvert Vaux
and George Kent Radford, of New York, for the first competition, and to which no award
was given in the second competition, owing to the requirements of the specifications not
being complied with. This adaptation also embodied the principal idea presented in the
design of Messrs. H. A. & J. P. Sims.
In reference to the Memorial Hall, the Committee stated that they "now entertained
grave doubts as to whether the Centennial Commission had, or were even intended to
have, any supervision over the plans or construction of the ' Permanent Centennial Exhi-
bition Building,' or any interest in the manner of the expenditure of the appropriation
made by the State and city." They considered this a matter for the State Centennial
HISTOR Y OF THE
Supervisors, and recommended that the plans for the Memorial Hall be transferred to
them, with the suggestion tliat if they approved of a plan it should as nearly as possible
conform to the requirements indicated by the Committee; and if thej' determined not to
proceed with the construction of a " Permanent Centennial Exhibition Building," as pro-
vided, then the Committee would at once prepare and submit a design for an Art Gallery.
The plan for the Main Exhibition Building, as submitted November 6th, 1873, to the
Executive Committee, was accepted and approved. At the same time the Board of State
Centennial .Supervisors communicated its desire that the plan for the Memorial Building
should be prepared under the direction of the Commission, and upon this request the
Director-General procured a design from Messrs. Collins and Autenrieth, of Philadelphia,
which was submitted to the Executive Committee, December I7th. The Committee
InUrior A^ricutturat Halt : Department of Brasil.
approved of the plan in its general features, but the estimated cost was in excess of the
appropriation, and it recommended that it be erected only upon the condition of its cost
being within the appropriated sum, and requested the Director-General to transmit the
design to the Board of the State Centennial Supervisors, where it remained without farther
action until the spring of 1874.
As soon as the Executive Committee had approved of the modified plans submitted tor
the Main Exhibition Building, they were placed in the hands of Messrs. Vaux and
Radford, who were selected as the architects, for further elaboration and estimates, the
results of which were given to the Committee. It wa.s. claimed by these results that
Messrs. Vau.x and Radford's system of construction throughout would be preferable, and
not more expensive, than if combined with that of Messrs. Sims. This arrangement was
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. i8y6.
HISTOR y OF THE
approved of, and the architects were instructed to obtain propositions from various iron
firms for tiie furnishin<^ and erection of tiie buikling in iron material, and also for the ])ur-
chase and renio\-al of the building after the close of the I'^xhibition.
About this time, the Secretary of State of the (iovernment saw fit to yive such con-
struction to that portion of the Act incorporating the Centennial Commission which related
to the participation of foreign nations at the Exhibition as would necessarily cause serious
embarrassment, and probably entirely defeat the international features connected with it.
His interpretation of the Act was, that while it stated "that an Exhibition of American and
foreign arts, products, etc., shall be held," and instructed the President " to make proclama-
tion, through the Department of State," and to communicate the proclamation and regulations
of the Commissions "to the diplomatic representatives of all nations," \'et it did not really
authorize the government to invite ans'boily from abroad to attend; and he consitlered it
necessary to issue special instructions to this effect, directing the diplomatic officers that
they must confine them.selves carefully to commending the celebration to all nations who
might be pleased to take part therein, without inviting them to do so. That " with the
exception that Congress created the Commission into a body corporate, and that the Com-
missioners were confirmed by the President, and that Congress authorized the proclamation
made by the President and sympathized with the people in the success of the I{,\hibition,
the national government had no connection with the Commission, no control over it, and
was in no wa)' responsible either for its management or its results." This interpretation
was at entire variance with the understanding of the Commission on the subject and called
for immediate action. A bill that would cover the whole question clearly and without
doubt was at once prepared and introduced into Congress, passing the House almost unani-
mously, but meeting with delay and postponement in the Senate, until June 5th, 1874, when
it was finally passed and approved, and the proj)er invitations were extended to the foreign
governments. They met with a prompt response, and the international features were fully
and firmh' secured. In the autumn of 1873, that great financial panic, of which the effects
are still seen, swept over the country, embarrassing all business operations and very seriously
interfering with the procurement of subscriptions to Centennial stock. It was deemed,
therefore, by the Executive Committee, of the utmost importance that pecuniary aid should
be obtained from the Government. Ever\' effort was made in this direction, a bill for the
purpose being introduced into Congress on April i6th, 1874, but it failed to pass, and the
Commission was obliged to place its dependence only upon voluntary subscriptions, which,
up to May 1st, 1874, had amounted to $1,805,200, and the appropriations, which had been
made by the State and municipal corporations, which were as follows: —
State of Pennsylvania, for permanent building $1,000,000
City of Philadelphia, " " 500,000
City of Philadelphia, for a conservatory, 200,000
City of Philadelphia, for a machinery hall, 800,000
State of New Jersey, conditional upon a sufificient sum being
obtained from other sources to carry out the Exhibition, loopoo
Total municipal and State appropriations, -. $2,600,000
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
It was, therefore, absolutely essential that the cost of the Main Building should be kept
to a minimum. Acting on this, bids were received for the work in both wood and iron
construction, and the excess in cost of iron precluded its use. Another plan was then
prepared by the architects for wood protected partially by galvanized iron, the cost of which
was found to be about $103,000 per acre. This plan was approved and handed over to
the Board of Finance for execution, but the Building Committee refused to erect it on
account of its combustible nature, and referred it back to the Executive Committee, who
instructed Messrs. Vaux & Radford to re-design the structure in wrought iron, and by a
reduction of the spans endeavor to keep within a more reasonable cost. The architects
were unable, however, to get the cost below about $182,000 per acre, and attention was
accordingly directed to the consideration of some more simple form of building than had
as yet been presented. Two prominent manufacturers of iron constructions combining
together then came forward and laid before the Committee plans and proposals upon two
separate designs, one of which would cost $182,000 per acre — the same amount as for the
architects' last plan — and the other $128,000 per acre. The latter was a simple shed con-
struction of too monotonous and ordinary appearance to be acceptable, and the former was
not considered so desirable as the architects' plan, although costing the same sum. The
Executive Committee, therefore, approved of Messrs. Vaux & Radford's last design and
transmitted the drawings to the Board of Finance, requesting that the work be placed under
contract by May 15th, 1874, if possible. The Board, however, anxious to decrease the
cost still further, obtained yet another plan from the architects, the cost of which was now
reduced to $124,000 per acre. As successive efforts had resulted in successive reductions
of cost, it seemed feasible to do still more in this direction, and it was decided that the
building should in no event exceed in cost $100,000 per acre. Messrs. Vaux & Radford
were then instructed to prepare new plans on this basis, and while these were being fur-
nished Mr. Henry Pettit, the consulting engineer of the Commission, rcommended to the
architects and advised the adoption of yet another modification of design for the building,
embodying pavilions in the centre with wings of shed construction, allowing of any
extension that the future wants of the Exhibition might make desirable. Messrs. Vaux &
Radford not working up this idea satisfactorily, Mr. Pettit was requested to prepare plans
and procure estimates at the same time as the architects. This he refused to do, as the
Board of Finance already had a contract with Messrs. Vaux & Radford to prepare any
plans they required, but he willingly offered to co-operate with these gentlemen in every way
possible to further the work. The designs of the architects were three in number, as follows : —
No. I. Pavilion plan throughout, with groined arch ribs in iron.
No. 2. A design consisting of three parallel galleries, each 150 feet span, with inter-
mediate aisles, the roof of the 150 feet spans being flat arches with parallel extrados and
intrados filled in with diagonal bracing, and the main tie-rod curved and supported from
the arch by radial rods.
No. 3. Same as No. 2, except that straight, triangular roof trusses were used, the
design being represented by a single tracing, and intended to embody the suggestions of
Mr. Pettit.
// Ipl l/l,
INTERNATIONAL EX H I B I TI N, 1 8 76.
HISTORY OF THE
The Building Committee, after a full examination of these plans, again requested Mr.
Pettit to work up a design according to his suggestions, and, under the circumstances, he
could do nothing else than acquiesce. He accordingly furnished sketches and specifications
which were designated as Design No. 4.
These four designs were presented to the public for bids, from June 17th to 25th, 1874,
In comparing the amounts given by the lowest bidder for the several designs, there appeared
to be a difference of only $2,824 between Nos. 2 and 4 — in favor of the former — but the
Committee decided that No. 4 possessed advantages over No. 2, which made it preferable
even at the same price. The ccst of Plan No. i was in excess of No. 4 by ;^520,733, and
although the Committee was of opinion that the interior effect of No. i would be superior
to that of No. 4, still, it felt that the great difference in cost would outweigh any ad\-antages
in this respect, and it therefore adopted Mr. Pettit's plan on June 30th, the Director-General
giving his approval on July 4th, by order of the Executive Committee. This was the first
design upon which the Board of P'inance and E.xecutivc Committee both agreed, and was
the final result of the successive efforts of many talented in their profession, developing
step by step from the grand ideas of the original requirements to a practical basis which
could be met by the resources at hand. All those who contributed towards the attainment
of this end — be it more or less — are entitled to due credit for it.
The contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, Mr. Richartl J. Dobbins, of Philadelphia
for Si,076,OOO^exclusive of drainage, plumbing, decoration and painting — the area to be
covered being eighteen acres ; and Messrs. Vaux & Radford were authorized to proceed with
the execution of the design. A professional issue arising, Messrs. Vaux & Radford declined
to execute the work, and their contract with the Board of Finance was closed. Arrangements
were then made with IMr. Ilcnrj' Pettit and Vlv. Jo.scph ;\I. Wilson to act as joint engineers
and architects to the Centennial Board of Finance, for the Main Exhibition Building and for
the Machinery Hall.
Actual work commenced immediately, prospects became encouraging from this day
forward, and it was soon evident that the space allowed for the Main Building was too little.
It was therefore increased to twenty acres, and, at the same time, the central portion of the
building was raised and towers added for exterior effect, the co.st being increased to
$I,420,CX)0.
According to the agreement made with the contractor, it was provided that one wing of
the building should be erected by September 1st, the other by October 1st, and the central
portion by November ist, the whole building to be completed by January 1st, 1876.
In reference to the Memorial Building, the designs as so far prepared by the selected
architects did not appear satisfactory, considerably exceeding in cost the appropriations at
command, and a plan presented by Mr. H. J. Schwarzmann, one of the engineers of Fairmount
Park, was finally adopted, a contract being effected with Mr. Richard J. Dobbins on July 4,
1874, for the execution of the same, at a co.st of gi, 199. 273. the sum being covered by the
appropriations of the State of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia.
Messrs. Pettit and Wilson proceeded at once under instructions to prepare a design for
the Machinery Hall, which, being completed and adopted, was submitted to bidders, and the
INTERNATIONAL EXII IB ITION, 1S76.
contract awarded to Mr. Philip Quigley, of Wilmington, Delaware, January 27th, 1875, for the
sum of ^542,300, including drainage, water-pipe, plumbing, etc., but exclusive of outside
painting, the building to be finished by October ist of the same year.
A design had already been prepared by Mr. Schwarzmann for a Conservatory Building,
and bids being received, the contract fell to Mr. John Rice, of Philadelphia, for ^^253, 937,
exclusive of heating-apparatus, the papers being signed January ist, 1875, and the work to be
completed by September 15th.
Mr. James H. Windrim was selected as architect for the Agricultural Building, and his
design being approved, the contract was awarded to Mr. Philip Quigley on June i6th, 1875,
for the sum of $250,000, the work to be completed by January 1st, 1876.
The area covered by these buildings was as follows : —
Main Building, 21.47 acres.
Art Building 1.50 "
Horticultural Building 1.50 "
Machinery Building 14.00 "
Agricultural Buikling, lO. 15 "
Total, 48.62 acres.
Thus, by indefatigable perseverance on the part of the Board of Finance, the five prin-
cipal buildings for the great Exhibition were at last fairly under way, and a most important
step taken in advance towards a successful issue. The work proceeded rapidly, fully realizing
all expectations, and with far greater speed than many even well versed in such matters
deemed possible. Additional buildings soon began to spring up ; the United States Govern-
ment commenced the erection of a building, under Mr. Windrim as architect, for the collective
exhibits from the different Government departments; offices were projected and started for the
Executive departments of the Centennial Commission and the Board of Finance; State
pavilions ; buildings for special exhibits, etc., etc., began to dot the enclosure at point after
point, increasing rapidly in number as the time for the opening of the Exhibition approached,
and rivaling those of all previous Exhibitions, at least in multitude if not in architectural
variety and national characteristics. A fence-line of some sixteen thousand lineal feet was
constructed around the grounds, enclosing two hundred and thirty-si.x acres, this area being
exclusive of the stock-grounds for the display of horses, cattle, sheep, etc., and located at
another site. Walks and roads were laid out within the enclosure, comprising a total length
of over seven miles ; an artificial lake of water formed, covering an extent of three acres ;
fountains, statuary and vases erected, and shrubbery planted ; a complete system of drainage
designed and constructed for buildings and grounds, and the whole area so transformed,
changed and beautified far beyond the already natural loveliness of the location as to be
hardly recognizable even by those most familiar with it.
The necessity of including the Lansdowne and Belmont ravines within the Exhibition
grounds required the construction of two bridges for the use of the public park roads, which
were designed by and constructed under the direction of of Messrs. Pettit & Wilson. That
over the Lansdowne ravine was of considerable engineering pretensions, and afforded an
HISTORY OF THE
opportunity for quite an artistic construction. In order to secure an abundant supply of water
entirely independent of the city department, temporary pumping-works were erected on the
west bank of the Schuylkill River, a large and commodious brick building being constructed
Buildings of the British Comii
and furnished with a Worthington steam-pump of a capacity of six million gallons of water
per day, and an auxiliary pump of one million gallons additional. The necessary stand-pipe
and a circulating system of pipes, amounting to about eight miles in total length, were pro-
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
vided, the designing and erection of the whole being under the care of Mr. Frederick Graff
as Chief Engineer. Gas mains were laid out to the principal buildings from the city system,
so as to afford the full supply desired.
As to transportation facilities, no previous Exhibition ever had so perfect arrangements.
About three and a half miles of tracks were laid within the grounds to the several buildings,
and there connected, by means of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's lines, directly with
the wharves on the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, and with all the railroads entering the
city, rendering no transhipments necessary except from vessels to cars.
0/ British Com
In the meantime the progress made by the Commission and the Board of Finance in
their labors during the year 1875 was most satisfactory. The general classification as
arranged was —
I. Mining, III. Education and Science, V. Machinery,
II. Manufactures, IV. Art, VI. Agriculture,
VII. Horticulture,
.md the adaptation of this classification to the principal buildings placed the first, second
and third departments in the Main Building, the fourth in the Art Gallery, the fifth in the
H J STORY OF THE
Machinery Building, the sixth in the Agricultural Building, and the seventh in the Horti-
cultural Building. The public sentiment developed in favor of the Exhibition was such as
to warrant the most liberal provision for its success, and the increased number of co-operative
ao-encies established throughout the world tended greatly to overcome all difficulties.
The usual annual report required from the Commission by Congress was made to the
President on January 20th, 1875, "setting forth the progress of the preparations for the
E.xhibition, and respectfully presenting the claims of the Commission for financial aid to
properly execute their trust." Appropriations were asked for specific purposes, the expenses
of which it was thought should rightly be borne by the Government, as follows :—
For expenses of the United States Centennial Commission, . . . $400,000
Awards and expenses incident thereto 500,000
Protection (police, etc.), 600,000
$1,500,000
But Congress did nothing. It did make an appropriation, however, of $505,000 for the use
of the Board representing the United States Executive Departments in preparing a col-
lective exhibition, and the Board, having this appropriation, proceeded to the erection of a
suitable Government building, previously mentioned, to contain the exhibits.
The Women's Centennial Executive Committee, under the able direction of Mrs. E. D.
Gillespie, greatly enlarged its influence and usefulness, forming one of the most important
volunteer organizations which had come to the aid of the Commission. It rendered
exceedingly important service not only in procuring stock subscriptions, but in obtaining
money by other means, and in awakening popular interest, performing a large share of the
labor towards insuring the success of the undertaking. In addition to the large sums col-
lected and handed over to the Board of Finance, this Committee raised by voluntary
contributions of the American women the separate sum of $35,000, which it appropriated to
the construction of a special building for the exclusive display of women's work, erecting a
structure creditable to the enterprise of the ladies, and a useful and ornamental addition to
the list of Exhibition buildings. We hope to give more particulars concerning this Com-
mittee hereafter.
It was soon found necessary to organize the various administrative bureaus which
would be required to properly attend to the direct duties of the Exhibition under the
supervision of the Director-General. The bureaus formed with their respective functions
and chiefs were as follows : —
Foreign — Direction of the foreign representation, The Director-General.
Installation.— Classification of applications for space-allotment of space in Main
Building — Supervision of special structures Henr>' Pettit.
Transportation. — Foreign transportation for goods and visitors — Transportation
for goods and visitors in the United States — Local transportation — Ware-
housing and customs regulations Adolphus Torrey.
Machinery.— Superintendence of the Machinery Department and building, including
- allotment of space to exhibitors, John S. Albert.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, iSj6.
Agriculture. — Superintendence of the Agricultural Department, building and
grounds, including allotment of space to exhibitors, .... Burnet Landreth.
Horticulture. — Superintendence of Horticultural Department, conservatory and
grounds, including allotment of space to e.xhibitors, .... Charles H. Miller.
Fine Arts. — Superintendence of the Fine Arts Department and building, including
allotment of space to exhibitors, . John Sartain.
The subject of awards received very careful attention from the Executive Committee,
the experience of those connected with previous Exhibitions being solicited and given due
consideration. A system was finally decided upon, widely different from any ever used
before ; and instead of having several grades of awards, causing disputes among the recipi-
ents as to their comparative importance, a single uniform medal was adopted, which was
in each case to be accompanied by a report and diploma stating the nature of the merit
for which it was awarded. It was determined to have only a small body of judges, one-
half of whom should be foreign and one-half from the United States, and to insure the
presence and attention of men practically conversant with the subjects on which they
were to report, it was decided to provide an allowance to each, designed to cover actual
expenses.
A final effort was made at the Congressional session of 1875-6 towards obtaining the
appropriation asked for at the previous session, and after considerable opposition it was
successful, the sum of ;$i, 500,000 being granted on condition of its being paid back to the
Government out of the proceeds of the Exhibition in advance of any dividends from profits
being given to any other claimants. This gave immediate relief from all chance of pecu-
niary embarrassment, avoiding the necessity of perhaps mortgaging the buildings or receipts
in advance, which might have been required otherwise.
The Centennial year began to draw near; the buildings towards which so many eyes
were turned grew up and approached completion ; events crowded one on the other until
it was impossible for the coolest head to avoid being stirred up with enthusiasm. The
1st of January was ushered in with illuminations and rejoicings such as had never before
been known. Foreign representatives, of which there had been a few for some time, now
began to arrive in numbers, and exhibits commenced to appear on the grounds. The writer
well remembers the interest occasioned by a lot of Japanese goods which were among the
first to come, and were unpacked in Machinery Hall. They came by way of San Fran-
cisco, and were parts of the building afterwards erected by that Government for the use
of its ofificers, so curiously put together by native workmen, who appeared to do every-
thing exactly the opposite way from which it was done in this country, possibly from
living in a reversed position on the other side of the globe.
The winter of 1876 was fortunately very mild. Planting was possible almost continu-
ously, and the erection of the numerous buildings proceeded without interruption. By the
time of the opening-day, everything was in readiness with the exception of a few of the
exhibits which had suffered detention. The buildings had all been completed and ready
for the reception of goods at the dates designated, occasioning no delays on their part, a
HISTORY OF THE
fact never before accomplished at any previous Exhibition. Patriotism had been fully
aroused, and for weeks before the lOth of May the people were busy decorating with flags
and draping with bunting, until Philadelphia wore a gala look such as she had never done
before and may never do again. Chesnut Street was one mass of color — red, white and
blue — as far as the eye could reach. It was a pageant, a raree-show, such as few see
twice in a life-time. The poorest little shanty in the town had its penny flag hung out,
and even now the thought of those days stirs up one's feelings and bears evidence of that
depth of love of country which always shows itself when the occasion arises.
The 9th of May was dark and cheerless, but all were busy placing the last flag and
Kansas Building,
giving the last touch until far into the night. The loth opened at early dawn still cloudy
and uncertain. Nevertheless all were stirring, for was not this the opening-day of our great
celebration, where we were to show to the world the progress that a free country under
self-government could make in a century of life? The rain held off; the crowds began
to gather. The whole area in front of the Memorial Hall facing the Main Building had
been arranged with seats on platforms, and apportioned off into sections, and here were
grouped the President of the United States and Cabinet, the .Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives, the Supreme Court, the Diplomatic Corps, the Governors and other officers of
States, the Centennial Commission and Board of Finance, the Foreign Commissioners, the
Women's Centennial Committee, the Board of Judges and Awards, other Boards and
Bureaus of the E.Khibition, the Army and Navy, the various city officers, etc., etc. —
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8y6.
forming a brilliant assemblage such as only an occasion like this can draw together. In
the centre of the front was the platform for the President and those distinguished officers
and guests who were to take active part in the ceremonies. At the entrance to the Main
Building, opposite and facing Memorial Hall, was the platform for the immense orchestra
of one hundred and fifty pieces, under the leadership of Theodore Thomas, and around
this was grouped the grand Centennial chorus of one thousand voices, one of the great
results of the good work of the Women's Centennial Committee. In the rear, in the
interior of the Main Building, but with the large arched windows of the facade open, was
Mississippi Buildifjg.
the noble Roosevelt Organ, the first instrument of its kind in the history of International
Exhibitions to take part in the opening ceremonies in combination with the grand orchestra,
and mingle with it its glorious tones in one melodious whole.
The Main Building, Memorial Hall and Machinery Hall were reserved for officials,
invited guests and exhibitors until the conclusion of the ceremonies. Invited guests entered
through the Main Building, and other gates to the grounds were opened to the public at
nine o'clock A. M., at the established rate of admission, fifty cents. The avenue between the
centre exit of the Main Building, on the north side, and the Memorial Hall was kept
open, and guests passed by this to their places, which were to be occupied by quarter
past ten o'clock.
HISTORY OF THE
Let us take our stand of observation in the outside balcony of tlie Main Building,
in the rear of the orchestra, where we can see and be above everj-thing. As the hour
approaches the excitement increases. The clouds lighten up, and the grounds become
gradually covered with a dense mass of good-humored people, who crowd up towards the
platforms until they threaten to entirely close the passage between the two buildings, neces-
sitating the utmost efforts of the police to keep them back, taking the pushing and shoving,
however, with that remarkable good nature for which the American citizen is so noted.
As far as the eye can reach, the people are seen pouring forward. A perfect sea of heads
meets the view on every side. Every one looks pleased, and expectation rises to the
highest pitch.
From below, the buzz and hum of the crowd floats up to the ear; the balmy air
and freshness of the spring morning delights the senses, and one feels perfectly happy.
The seats on the opposite side are gradually filled ; distinguished visitors arrive one after
the other, and are received with acclamations. There goes His Excellency Dom Pedro,
of Brazil, that man who is every inch a true emperor, with the Empress — the only crowned
heads who grace our opening. We remove our hats in compliment to these our royal
guests. There comes the British Conmiission in full uniform, and following are the repre-
sentatives from other countries, all decked in their most gorgeous official dresses, and
decorated with their medals and honors; the Japanese Embas.sy, the French, the Austrian,
the Swedish, the German, and all the nations of the earth, to join with us in this our
triumphal day. The Emperor and ICmpress take seats on the central platform reserved for
the President of the United States and distinguished visitors. The hour of opening has
arrived, and the grand orchestra .strikes up the national airs of all nations. The moment
we have dreamed of for the past three years of labor and toil has come, and our work is
consummated. One feels in his heart, O happy day! that I have lived to see it and had
it come in my time ! Music is heard in the distance ; it draws nearer. It is the Presi-
dent, who comes escorted by Governor Hartranft, of Penn.sylvania, with troops. They
enter by the rear of Memorial Hall, and passing through to the front, the escort forms
in two lines down the passage between the buildings, while the President joins the Emperor
and Empress. Acclamations rend the air, and at this moment the clouds break away, and
a burst of sunshine illuminates the animated scene — a happy omen for the success of the
great undertaking.
The orchestra begins Wagner's Centennial Inauguration March, of which so much was
expected, another gift from our noble women. To one who is an enthusiastic admirer of
Wagner, it must be confessed that it is somewhat disappointing. Still, it is Wagner. None
can dispute that. The grand clashes, the sounds from the brass instruments, the volumes
of tone swelling up and up until they almost overtop the heavens them.selves. Then all
is hushed, and Bishop Simpson asks God's blessing on our work, gives thanks for all our
past successes, and beseeches his kind guidance in the future. Whittier's hymn follows,
with the grand chorus, the orchestra and the organ. The place, the day, the tumultuous
feelings within one combine to produce an effect never to be forgotten, as a thousand voices
swell up on the bright morning air — . .
INTERNATIONAL EXHIB ITION, 1876.
Our fathers' God ! from out whose hand
The centuries fall like grains of sand,
We meet to-day, united, free,
And loyal to our land and Thee,
To thank Thee for the era done.
And trust Thee for the opening one.
Here, where of old, by Thy design.
The fathers spake that word of Thine,
Whose echo is the glad refrain
Of rended bolt and falling chain,
To grace our festal time, from all
The zones of earth our guests we call.
Be with us while the new world greets
The old world thronging all its streets.
Unveiling all the triumphs won
By art or toil beneath the sun;
And unto common good ordain
Thiv rivalahip of hand and brain.
Thou, who hast here in concord furled
The war-flags of a gathered world.
Beneath our Western skies fulfill
The Orient's mission of good will.
And, freighted with love's Golden Fleece,
Send back the Argonauts of peace.
For art and labor met in truce.
For beauty made the bride of use
We thank Thee, while, withal, we crave
The austere virtues strong to save.
The honor proof to place or gold,
The manhood never bought nor sold !
O ! make Thou us, through centuries long.
In peace secure, in justice strong;
Around our gift of freedom draw
The safeguards of Thy righteous law ;
And, cast in some diviner mould.
Let the new cycle shame the old!
The buildings are then presented by the Centennial Board of Finance, througli its
President, Mr. John Welsh, to tlie Centennial Coniniission, and the presentation is followed
by Sidney Lanier's Cantata —
From this hundred-terraced height
Sight more large with nobler light
Ranges down yon towering years :
Humbler smiles and lordlier tears
Shine and fall, shine and fall,
While old voices rise and call
Yonder where the to-and-fri)
Weltering of my Long-Ago
Moves about the moveless base
Far below my resting-jilace.
Mayflower, Mayflower, slowly hither flying.
Trembling Westward o'er yon balking sea.
Hearts within Farewell dear Eng''2>ul sighing.
Winds without But dear in vain replying,
(jray-lipp'd waves about thee shouted, crying
Ko I II shall not be!
Jamestown, out of thee — '
Plymouth, thee — thee, Albany —
Whiter cries. Ye freeze . away!
Fever cries. Ye burn: away!
Hunger cries, Ye stai~,'e : away!
Vengeance cries. Your sf raves shall stay!
Then old Shapes and Masks of Things,
F"ramed like Faiths or clothed like Kings —
Ghosts of Goods once fleshed and fair.
Grown foul Bads in alien air —
War, and his most noivy lords,
Tongued with lithe and poisoned swords —
Error, Terror, Rage, and Crnne,
All in a windy night of time
Cried to nie from land and sea,
No ! Thou shalt not be !
Hark !
Huguenots whisiiering rtvj in the dark!
Puritans answering yea in the dark !
Yea, like an arrow shot true to his mark,
Darts through the tyrannous heart of Denial.
Patience and Labor and solemn-soiiled Trial,
Foiled, still beginning.
Soiled, but not sinning,
Toil through the stertorous death of the Night,
Toil, when wild brother-wars new-dark the Light.
Toil, and forgive, and kiss o'er, and replight.
Now Praise to God's oft-granted grace.
Now Praise to Man's undaunted face.
Despite the land, despite the sea,
I was: I am: and I shall be —
How long, Good ."Vngel, O how lung ?
Sing me from Heaven a man's own song!
HISTORY OF THE
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
' Long as thine Art shall love true love,
Long as thy Science truth shall know
Long as tliine Eagle harms no Dove,
Long as thy Law by law shall grow,
Long as thy God is God above.
Thy brother every man below.
So long, dear Land of all my love.
Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow !"
O Music, from this height of time my Word unfold :
In thy large signals all men's hearts Man's Heart behold !
Mid-heaven unroll thy chords as friendly flags unfurled,
And wave the world's best lover's welcome to the world !
The basso solo is sung by Myron W. Whitney, of Boston, whose powerful and superb
voice floats out clearly and distinctly over the space, even to the most distant parts of the
platforms, and such bravos are raised as to require a repetition to render satisfaction. After
this the Centennial Commission by its President, General Joseph R. Hawley, presents the
Exhibition to the President of the United States, who replies in a brief address, and declares
it open to the world. The flag unfurled, and the sublime Hallelujah Chorus bursts forth
with orchestra and organ, and the simultaneous salute of one hundred guns and ringing
of the chimes.
A procession is formed, and the President of the United States, conducted by the
Director-General of the Exhibition, and followed by the guests of the day, passes into and
through the Main Building. The various foreign commissioners, having gone in advance,
join the procession at the sections of their respective countries, and the whole body passes
on to the Machinery Hall, through the military escort which forms in two lines between
the buildings, to the great engine which the President and the Emperor of Brazil, assisted
by Mr. George H. Corliss, set in motion, starting all the machinery connected with it, and
completing the ceremonies. The restless, happy crowds separate and wander over the
buildings and grounds; the restaurants are filled to overflowing and taxed far beyond their
capacity, the number of visitors exceeding all calculations, and the day closes with a sudden
shower of rain, dispersing all to their homes. So ended the first day.
For six months thus the Exhibition continued open — a time long to be remembered
by those who passed through it — those pleasant days of May and June, when one strolled
through the aisles of the Main Building and listened to the strains from Gilmore's band,
or heard the tones from the grand organ swelling up and d)-ing awa\' in the distance. No
matter where one went, good music delighted the ear at all times, greatly enhancing the
enjoyment of the visitor. The ever-varying crowds, sometimes more and sometimes less,
all classes, so interesting as studies, all happy and enjoying themselves; or, when passing
into Machinery Hall and standing by the famous Krupp guns, one saw the surprise and
astonishment in the faces of the people at these tremendous messengers of death, or
observed the curiosity and interest displayed by those around the weaving-machines; or,
if present among the number who crowded about the great Corliss engine after the mid-day
rest, one noticed the desire manifested to see it started to work by the movement of a
hand, so quietly and steadih- — so much power, all so completely under the control of one
human being. One could not but feel the immense pleasure and benefit given to the
masses of our people by this method of celebrating our great Centennial, and acknowledge
the wisdom of those who so strongly defended and labored for it.
Then the hot days of July, with the grand torchlight procession on the night of the
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
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HISTORY OF THE
3d, and the military parade and special celebration in Independence Square on the 4t]i ;
and when the latter days of August came, and the throng of visitors began to swell and
steadily incre.ise, insuring the financial success of the undertaking, fresh interest was aroused,
culminating in that red-letter Thursday in September, the great Pennsylvania Day, with its
two hundred and sixt)-se\-en thousand \ isitors, a result far be}'ond what had been done at
any previous Exhibition.
The flowers and plants in the Horticultural grounds grew anti flourished, \\'axing strong
and beautiful, fully equaling those exquisite disphus made in the roj'al pleasure-grounds
of Europe, until the frosts of October cut them down and ga\e the first intimation that
there was to be an end to all this fairy-like spectacle.
Let us now select a fine day and observe the Exhibition more in detail, passing from
building to building, aiul noting the particular characteristics of each. To enable the reader
to follow us more intelligently, we give an engraving on page c.wiii showing a general plan of
the grounds, on which all the principal features are marked. We will enter from Belmont
A\cnuc. On the right and left are two similar buildings, used as offices for the Centen-
nial Commission and the Centennial Board of Finance. They are of one .story, constructed
of frame and plaster, entirely surrounded b}' porticos, having arched openings filled in with
sawed scroll-work. Open courts are arranged in the centre of each building, planted out
with flowers and trailing vines, and one of our engravings siiows the lovely efiect produced
by them. The buildings are ver\- pretty, and remind one of Vienna.
Within the grounds we enter a large open sjiace about fi\e huntlred feet square,
flanked on the east by the Main Building, and on the west by Machineiy Hall, laid out
geometrically with walks, and having in the centre the great Bartholdi ca.st-iron fountain,
consisting of female figures standing on dolphins, and supporting a large basin, with gas-
lamps grouped in among the water-jets, and intended to produce a brilliant and novel
effect, which does not appear to be completely realized. A few short months before the
opening, no one would have supposed that this then barren space could have been in so
little time so thoroughly transformed. We move towards the Main Building as the primary
object of attraction, and we notice that its outlines are characterized by extreme simplicity.
In the construction of this building the necessities of the ca.se have required the omission
of everything which would entail e.xtra expense over what w'as strictl)- essential to satisfy
the demands of the Exhibition. The problem given to the engineers and architects was to
cover a rectangular piece of ground of a certain area with a building, constructed of certain
materials, for the lowest possible cost, and the requirements have been strictly carried out.
There are no projections, no recesses — all such accessories to architectural effect being
rigidly excluded on the score of economy, and every foot covered by the building has
been made fully available for the purposes of the Exhibition. The roofs are made no
higher than practical use requires, and of the simplest and cheapest forms of trusses ; high
arched roofs, so effective architecturally, being of course prohibited. It is believed that
the general efiect of the building is quite satisfactory, taking all of these restrictions into
account. Nothing like monumental grandeur or solidity was feasible. The amounts of
material used had to be kept strictly to the requirements for proper strength and no more.
INTERNATfONAL EXHIB ITION, 1S76.
The monotony has been very much broken by the manner adopted of working up the facades
with central features extending to a considerable height, having arcades upon the ground-
floor and large arched openings above, towers being placed on the corners, connected with
y^
Art-Gatlfry Annex. S/;vnsh Court.
the central part by low-roofed wings. The arrangement of the roofs in varying heights
for different spans, and the raising of the central part of the building and introduction of
four high towers at the corners of this central portion as a crowning feature to the whole
HISl ORY OF THE
building, have aided very con.sidcrabl)- in the production of a pleasing and satisfactory
structure.
The building is located in the original position selected as its site, with its greatest
dimension parallel to Elm Avenue, and distant one hundred and seventy feet from it, and
the ground plan comprises a rectangle of eighteen hundred and eighty feet in length by
four hundred and sixty-four feet in width, measured to centres of exterior columns. In
general arrangement it consists of a central longitudinal nave of one hundred and twenty
feet span, with two side avenues of one hundred feet each, separated from the central
nave by intermediate spans of forty-eight feet, and having, on the exterior side of each,
one span of twenty-four feet; the total width of four hundred and sixty-four feet being
thus made up of two spans of twenty-four feet, two of one hundred feet, two of forty-eight
feet, and one of one hundred and twenty feet.
In order to break the great length of the roof-lines, a cross transept of one hundred and
twenty feet span intersects all of the longitudinal avenues at a distance of nine hundred
and seventy-six feet from the east end of the building, having on each side of it cross
avenues of one hundred feet span, separated from it by spaces of forty-eight feet. The
governing dimension or unit of span of the building is twenty-four feet, nearly all measure-
ments conforming to this unit, the exceptions being in the case of the spans of one hundred
feet, the spacing of some of the trusses in the central portion of the building, and the
arrangement of columns at the main entrances.
The spans of one hundred and twenty feet in nave and transept have a height to square
at top of columns of forty-five feet, and to ridge of roof of seventy feet, and at their inter-
section at centre of building they produce a space of one hundred and twenty feet square,
which is raised to a height on square of seventy-two feet, or to ridge of ninety-eight feet
six inches, and is spanned by diagonal trusses, the roofs of nave and transept on each side
of this square for a distance out of thirty-two feet being raised to the .same height.
The spans of forty-eight feet on each side of nave have a height to square of twent}'-
seven feet six inches, and the intersections that would be made by these spans, if extended,
with the forty-eight feet spaces on each side of the transept, produce four interior courts
of forty-eight feet square at the four corners of the cenb^al diagonal roof, on which are
constructed square towers rising to a height of one hundred and twenty feet. This forms
the central feature before mentioned, adding so much to the effect as a whole.
The spans of one hundred feet have a height to square of roof of forty-five feet, and at
their intersections with eaclr other and also with the spans of one hundred and twenty feet,
they produce eight open spaces, four of them one hundred feet square, and four one hundred
feet by one hundred and twenty feet, entirely free from columns. The small spans of twenty-
four feet have a height to square of twenty-two and one-half feet. The main central avenue
or nave has an extreme length of eighteen hundred and thirty-two feet, exclusive of the
portions at the ends occupied by entrances, and is the longest avenue of that width ever
introduced into an exhibition building to this time.
There are four main entrances in the centres of the four facades, the east entrance forming
the principal approach for carriages, while the south entrance is the principal approach for
INTE R NA r I N AL EXHIBIT! 0\\ iSj6.
those arriving by street-cars. The north and west entrances are within the grounds, the
former connecting directly with the Art Gallery, and the latter with Machinery Hall.
Upper floors devoted to offices and galleries of observation have been constructed at the
main entrances and also in the towers ; but with the exception of some area assigned in
the west gallery to the American Society of Civil Engineers, and in the eastern one to tliL
Massachusetts Educational Department, the entire Exhibition space is upon the ground floor.
The four central towers have stairways, and one of them an elevator, all extending to the
top, and bridges over the roofs of the building connect the towers together, forming a favorite
resort for visitors to enjoy the cool breezes and the fine view of the grounds.
The areas covered by the flooring are as follows : —
Ground floor, 872,320 square feet = 20.02 acres.
Upper floors in projections 37,344 " = 0.85
Upper floors in towers 26,344 " = 0.60
Total 936,008 " = 21.47
The foundations of the building consist of piers of solid rubble masonry, well laid, each
pier under a column, being finished off with a granite block one foot thick, neatly dressed
on upper and lower faces. Between the piers on the exterior lines of the building, founda-
tion-walls are laid, finished off with a base course of dressed stone, on which brick-work
about six feet in height is ccjnstructed, laid in ornamental patterns of red and black, and
pointed on both faces with colored mortar. The outer columns of the building extend down
through this brick-work to the foundation niasonr\'. The four main entrances have piers
and side jambs of ornamental pressed brick and tile, with string courses of stone and ornate
galvanized iron capitals, there being stone sills between the piers. The wrought-iron columns
of the building extend through these piers to the foundations. The entire frame-work, or
skeleton of the building, including towers, is of wrought iron, there being wrought-iron
vertical columns resting upon the foundation masonry, and connected and braced to each
other by wrought-iron wind-trusses and beams ; wrought-iron roof-trusses with wrought-iron
ridge connecting members, and all necessary lateral wrought-iron bracing and ties ; the whole
structure properly joined together, and stiffened to resist the heaviest winds.
The two outer rows of columns are connected to the foundation masonr\- by anchor-
bolts extending nearly to the bottom of the masonry, and all other columns have cast-iron
bases with lugs let into the cap-stones on piers. The roof-trusses are made entirely of
wrought iron except the heel-blocks connecting with the columns, which are of cast-iron,
and these trusses are computed for a load of thirty-five pounds per horizontal square foot
of surface covered, exclusive of the weight of structure. The roofs of spans of one hundred
and of one hundred and twenty feet are constiucted upon the French triangular system
with straight rafters ; the spans of forty-eight feet are straight, double-intersection triangular
girders, and those of twenty-four feet are sloping triangular trusses. The four main entrances
have intermediate ornamental cast-iron columns, with brackets, lamps and wrought-iron gates,
the openings being finished above with arches. These arches and the ornamental face-work
above the briclc-work up to the foot of the second-storj' balustrade are constructed of galvan-
HISTORY OF THE
ized iron and zinc. At the corners and angles of the main entrances and towers, the building
is finished with octagonal turrets, extending the full height from the ground-level to abo\e
the roof, those on the towers being surmounted by flag-staffs. The bases of these towers
are of cast iron, but the balance above is of galvanized iron.
Above the brick-work and the galvanized iron-work, the walls of the building are com-
posed of timber framing, with glazed sashes, an upper portion of these sashes swinging on
centre pivots at the sides, and capable of being opened or shut at pleasure by means of
cords operated from the floor. The method of laying the floor is difil-rcnt from that of
A^r'uuUural Hall. Interior Vint}.
any previous Exhibition building, the planking being nailed to sills firmly bedded in the
earth, which is also filled in between them, leaving no air-spaces beneath, and vastly
decreasing the risks from fire. The roofs are covered with tin, and Louvre ventilators and
skylights with glazed sashes are placed in continuous lengths over the nave, side galleries
and central aisles, and in shorter lengths over the middle portions of the building. The
sashes swing horizontally, and are provided with opening and closing apparatus, affording
ample ventilation. The exterior finish of the building is of wood. Ample entrance- and
exit-doors are provided at the main entrances, at the corner towers, and in the sides of the
building. Gas is supplied throughout, for policing purposes alone, however, as the Exhi-
bition is not opened at night. There are seven thousand burners and over thirty-two thousand
lineal feet of gas-pipe of the various sizes. Water is also supplied in ample quantity tlirough
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
about twelve thousand eight hundred lineal feet of pipe, and a large number of fire-plugs are
distributed so as to be most efficient in case of fire. The drainage system is very complete,
there being about eight hundred lineal fe^t of thirty-inch sewer, and over fourteen thousand
feet of terra-cotta pipe, varying from six to eighteen inches in diameter. These large figures
give an exceedingly good idea of the vast e.xtent of the building.
The exterior of the building is painted in an agreeable tint of buff, relieved by darker
shades, with bright colors in the chamfers, the rustic and foliated work at the entrances, the
caps of columns, etc., being of a green bronze picked out with gold. In the interior, the
wood-work of the roofs is kalsomined in two coats of a light pearl color, and decorated with
Agriiulluial H.ill—tlie Mill.
stenciling, the iron-work being painted in buff picked out with crimson, and the pendants in
crimson, blue and gold. The interior side-work is painted in colors, the body-color of the
columns and wood-work a light olive-green in several shades, and the decorations in crimson,
blue and gold. The panel-work and flat sides of the columns are covered with decorated
work. The ventilating sash with circular openings are ornamented with various emblems and
figures in such a way as to produce the effect of stained or painted glass. All of the clear
glass in the parts of the building exposed, to the sun has been tinted with an opaque wash,
producing the effect of ground glass, and very much relieving the eyes. On entering, the
effect of the coloring is quite pleasing, harmonizing well with the rich display of exhibits, and
fully justifying the reasons which led to its adoption.
Passing down the central aisle, we are lo.st in bewilderment. The construction of the
building permits us to see all over It; the wealth of the world is before us, and our sight is
only limited by the exhibits. Where shall we go first? What shall we do? These are the
questions one hears on every side. On our left is Italy with her Roman and Florentine
HISTOR Y OF THE
mosaics, her cabinets and bronzes. Next comes Norway. Oh ! what beautiful silver jewelrj' !
wliat handsome furs ! Then Sweden, with her pottery, her rich wealth of iron manufacture,
her full-size models of domestic peasant life. On our ris^ht is China, the curious carvings, the
huge porcelain vases; and adjoining it, Japan. What grotesque bronzes! what lovel)- cabinets!
As we pass on, one country after another comes before us, the exhibits of each more enticing
than those just left, all demanding our fullest attention— the rich fabrics of India, the magnifi-
cent silver- and gold-ware of Russia, and the porcelain of Great Britain. We move on,
passing the Egyptian department, with its enclosure modeled after an old temple of the Nile
Peeping in, we ask after the Sphinx and mummies, to the evident disfavor of the gentleman in
fez whom we address, and then go on past the grand facjade of the Spanish section, extending
almost to the roof We are arrested for a moment by an exquisite porcelain fountain in
Doulton-ware. On one side of us we are dazzled by the glass-ware of Vienna, and on the
other the lovely furniture of England recalls some happy tlays across the waters. Finally we
arc under the great central roof; we sink on to one of the numerous scats and gaze around
us. The Exhibition is a success ; the building is a success. Resembling somewhat in interior
effect that of the great Exhibition of 1851, it would have shown to better advantage perhaps
with a high arched roof over this great central aisle, but that was out of the question, and on
the whole it is so well adapted to its purposes, so satisfactorj- in e\ery way, so utilitarian, so
truly an engineer's building, and so perfectly an ornamented construction, that no one can fail
to be pleased with it. Close by is the famous Elkington exhibit; across the way is the French
Court with all its wealth ; on our right is Germany, and over there the United States — in the
front rank the rich exhibits of our American silversmiths, adding largely to the elegance of
the display. Trul}- this centre is a lovely spot. Thanks to those who arranged that these
should all group here! a fitting nucleus to the greatest Exhibition the world has ever seen.
We rest and dream. The soft notes from the great Roosevelt Organ work in harmony with
our thoughts, and we forget that there is much yet to be done, that we are now only taking a
general glance, that it is the buildings and not the exhibits with which we have to do. and we
reluctantly wend our way back towards Machiner\- Hall,
Machinery Hall is located five hundred and forty-two feet west of the Main Exhibition
Building, with its north face on the same line. It covers an area of three hundred and sixty
by fourteen hundred and two feet, ha\ing projections be\-ond these dimensions for doors and
portals on the east, north and west sides, also an annex on the south of two hundred and eight
by two hundred and ten feet, connected with the Main Hall by a passage-way ninety feet in
width. It therefore presents on the north side, in connection with the Main Exhibition
Building, upon one of the principal avenues within the grounds, the Avenue of the Republic,
an entire frontage from east to west of three thousand eight huntlred and twenty-four feet.
The boiler-houses are located as distinct buildings, on the south side of the Main Hall,
east and west of the southern annex, those on the east side being the British boiler-house, or
No. I, and the Corliss boiler-house, or No. 2 ; those on the west side, the machine-shop and
boiler-house No. 3 in one building, and boiler-house No. 4.
In designing Machinerj- Hall, its width was limited by the maximum distance that it was
thought advisable to con\'ey steam from the \arious boiler-houses, and in arranging the cross
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, iSj6.
sections of the building a certain amount of low roof was desired, with stiffened tie-beams, for
the purpose of hanging shafting, while the balance could be made higher, so as to improve
the effect and afford facilities for light and ventilation. It was therefore arranged in five spans,
the centre and two outer spans being sixty feet, with a height from floor to tic-beam in clear
of twenty feet, and to ridge of thirty-three feet, and the two intermediate spans ninety feet,
with a height to square of forty feet, and to ridge of nearly fifty-nine feet. These avenues
extend the whole length of the building, and the exterior finish at the east and west ends is
designed to harmonize with their cross section, low towers or belfries, having a height to apex
of roof of eighty-one feet, being placed at the ends of the ninety-feet spans. The southern
MiissM/iusi-lls BuUdiiii;.
annex consists of three spans — a centre span of ninety feet, and two side spans of sixty feet —
the heights and outlines corresponding with those of the same dimensions in the main part
of the building. The centre span of ninety feet continues on across the main portion of the
building, intersecting with the longitudinal avenues of ninety feet, and forming a transept, at
the northern end of which the face of the building is finished with a tower and wings similar
to those at the east and west ends.
The building furnishes three principal entrances, those on the east, west and north. The
projections at these entrances on the lower or main floor provide offices, retiring-rooms and
restaurants, while on the upper floors, offices and galleries, the latter being favorite resorts for
visitors from which to view the animated scene below. The governing dimension or unit of
span in the direction of the length of the building is sixteen feet.
The entire floor-area covered by the Machinery Hall and annex is five hundred and
eighty-eight thousand four hundred and forty square feet, or twelve and eighty-two hundredths
Enlniiicc lo Ike Art Galkry^Opciiiii^ Day.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
acres, and the galleries and office-floors in the upper stories increase this total to fourteen
acres. The annex, which is designed especially for the exhibition of hydraulic machinery in
motion, and forms one of the greatest features of the display, contains in its central portion
an open tank, the top of which is level with the floor, covering an area of sixty feet by one
hundred and fifty-six feet, and having a depth of ten feet. This tank is filled with water, and
at the south end there is a waterfall of thirty-five feet in height and forty feet in width, sup-
plied from the tank by pumps on exhibition. There is also a pit at the south end for trial of
Turbine wheels. During the hours that the waterfall is in operation and the numerous pumps
along the sides of the tank are raising water and pouring it back again in as many different
streams, some large, some small, some from fire nozzles up to the ridge of the roof returning
in spray, this annex forms one of the coolest resorts for a hot summer's day that can be found
at the Exhibition, and one may sit and listen to the roar of the waters, watching with untiring
pleasure the ever-varying scene before him.
The foundations of the building are of good rubble masonry, and are covered with a base
course of granite, returning at all door-openings through the entire thickness of the walls. On
this the exterior walls are built of Trenton brown-stone laid in broken range work to a height
of five feet above the floor, and pointed with dark mortar. All doors are provided with heavy
stone stills, level with top of flooring, and extending through the whole thickness of walls.
Foundation-piers are provided for all interior columns and finished off with granite capstones.
The tank in the annex is built with stone side-walls, and lined inside with brick-work laid in
cement, the bottom being covered with cement concrete.
The frame-work of the building, unlike that of the Main Exhibition Building, is con-
structed entirely in solid timber, excepting only certain members of the roof-trusses, more
particularly the tension members, which are of wrought iron. All colunms, caps, sills, rafters,
cornices, sashes, scroll-work, etc., are of white pine. The purlieus, framing of Louvre ventila-
tors and roof-sheathing are of spruce. The flooring is of yellow pine, the main flooring being
laid on sills bedded in the earth in the same way as in the Main Building. The outer masonry
walls are covered on top by a timber sill, securely held to the masonry by anchor-bolts, and
into it are mortised the main posts with intermediate posts. The system of forming the interior
columns consists in having a solid square timber of ten by ten inches section in the centre,
surrounded by four pieces of four by eight inches section on each face, the whole well bolted
together and acting as one column. Where the low roof joins to the column, three of these
side pieces stop, the fourth only, on the inside face next to the ninety feet spans, being con-
tinued up to the top of the column. Stiffening trusses are framed in from column to column
at the level of the low roof, and above these, up to the roof of the ninety feet span, interme-
diate framing is introduced, the same as in the outer walls. This intermediate framing is in
all cases filled in with glass sash, a lower part fixed and an upper part movable for ventilation,
being hung on centre pivots at the sides, and movable by means of cords operated from the
floor below. The lower roofs are framed of timber, and the upper ones of iron, with timber
rafters on the French triangular system, all roofs having Louvre ventilators in continuous
lengths as in the Main Building. The system of ventilation is exceedingly perfect, giving a
pleasant temperature within the building during the hottest days of the season. Many of the
HISTORY OF THE
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
lower sash on the exterior walls are made to open on hinges like French casement-windows.
The roof-covering is of tin.
Gas is supplied for policing purposes only, there being about five thousand lights and
over sixteen thousand feet of pipe. The water-service system is very complete, there being
over ten thousand five hundred feet of pipe, six hundred and twenty-four feet of which is a
special ten-inch main running from the bottom of the lake north of Machinery Hall to supply
the boilers of the fourteen hundred and two horse-power Corliss engine. There are thirty-
four fire-plugs exterior to the building, and forty-eight in the interior.
The building is painted on the exterior of a pearl tint, relieved by different shades, and by
a dark maroon color on the chamfers. The interior is very plainly painted, as would become
a building devoted to the purposes for which this is, the sides and columns of light shades of
umber and white lead, and the roof kalsomined in two coats of light pearl color, the iron
work, rods, struts, etc., being painted dark blue. The effect, although not by any means elabo-
rate, is remarkably good, and has been much admired.
The boiler-houses are all of the same character of construction as Machinery Hall,
differing of course somewhat in the details, especially in the sub-structure, sunken areas being
required for placing the boilers and for fuel; but they present the same exterior appearance.
They are provided with facilities for unloading coal directly from the cars, and have interior
platforms so that visitors can have ready access. The Corliss boiler-house is perhaps the most
interesting to the general visitor. Arranged around three sides of the interior- the fourth side
next to Machinery Hall being the entrance with visitors' platform — are twenty Corliss upright
boilers of seventy horse-power each. An underground connection by an eighteen-inch pipe
three hundred and twenty feet long, passing through a tunnel, carries the steam to the great
engine which has been fully described under " Mechanics and Science." Two huge brick
chimneys, quite ornamental in construction, connect with the flues from the boiler furnaces
and provide the necessary draught. As one leans over the railing around the visitors' platform
and looks down into the area below, it seems difficult to imagine that the quiet attendants who
so leisurely pile the coal into the furnaces and try the various gauge-cocks, are the active
agents in whose control is the generation of that mighty power, steam, which drives all of the
shafting and gives motion to the numerous machines executing such varied and complicated
work. And yet so it is. Neglect on their part and all would stop ; the great wheels would
remain silent, the busy hum would cease, and the curious machinery would lose its life.
Strolling back into the Machinery Hall, we are startled to find that what was in our thoughts
has really occurred: the great Corliss engine has stopped ; all activity has come to an end. It
cannot be that anything is wrong. No ! a moment's reflection assures us that it is only the
hour of noon. Machines, like men, require repose. Work them continuously and they
become technically "tired," and will soon fail if not properly cared for. The mid-day rest is
essential also to the attendants and must be provided for. The vast crowds seek the open air,
some to the restaurants, and others to employ their time elsewhere until the hour is over. We
are drawn to the northern part of the building by the sound of singing, which we discover to
proceed from a party of colored attendants belonging to the great tobacco factory of Rich-
mond, Virginia, who, during the silence of the machinery, entertain the visitors with plantation
HISTORY OF THE
melodies, rendered in that peculiar and attractive manner, as can only be done by natives to
the soil. After enjoying this for a time, we move on, passing out at a door on the north side,
and wander along the banks of the charming lake which has been so judiciously placed and
gives such life to the landscape. The beautiful fountain in the centre sparkles and dances in
the sun, keeping time to the music of the chimes, as the sounds of "Angels ever bright and
fair," "Home, sweet Home," etc., float out from the eastern tower and gladden the ear. We
pass a .statue of Elias Howe, the great sewing-machine inventor, and move on, stopping a
moment in Fountain Avenue to study Colonel Lienard's relief-plan of the city of Paris. When
we saw it a few weeks ago it looked very neat and pretty, the ground having been graded to
represent the undulations of the city, and some of the principal buildings sufficiently correct
Tl:e Swedish School-house.
in outline to be recognized, although there was a striking similarity in the various blocks of
houses in the different streets, which does not appear in Paris itself; and we observed what we
never knew before, that all the bridges over the Seine were of exactly the same pattern.
Neglect to cover the ground with asphalt or cement before laying out the city, however, has
resulted in allowing the weeds to grow up, which although at first resembling trees in the
streets, have now grown so far beyond the proper proportions for such purpose as to produce
a very curious effect, a city gone to seed — Paris after a reign of the Communists— and to
require the speedy advent of a care-taker to restore the model to its original condition.
A few steps more and we reach the Government Building. This was constructed and
paid for from a fund specially provided by the Government to furnish a place for the display
of exhibits from the several Executive departments of the United States. It was desired by
the Government "that from the Executive departments in which there might be specimens
suitable for the purpose intended, there should appear such articles and materials as would,
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
when presented in a collective exhibition, illustrate the functions and administrative faculties
of the Government in time of peace, and its resources as a war power, and thereby serve
to demonstrate the nature of our institutions and their adaptation to the wants of the
people." For the purpose of securing this, the President appointed a Board composed of
a representative from each of the Executive Departments of the Government, except the
Department of State and the Attorney-General's Department, but including the Depart-
ment of Agriculture and the Smithsonian Institution ; and this Board was charged with the
duty of perfecting the collective exhibit which we see before us. All took great interest
in the matter, and their efforts have resulted in a display alike creditable to the country
and attractive to the visitor. The building while of simple construction is quite effective
in appearance and very creditable to its architect. It is designed in plan in the form of
a Latin cross, covering an area of one hundred and two thousand eight hundred and forty
square feet, and is constructed of wood and plaster, with a roof similar to that on Machinery'
Hall, and a low octagonal tower at the intersection of the nave and transept. Its extreme
length is four hundred and eighty feet, and width three hundred and forty feet. The tran-
sept is one hundred feet wide, divided into a centre span of sixty feet, and two side spans
of twenty feet each. The nave is one hundred and eighty feet wide, and consists of seven
spans, one of sixty feet in the centre, and three of twenty feet on each side. The short
arm of the building opposite to the nave has a width of two hundred and twenty feet,
being increased over that of the nave by two spans of twenty feet each. The roofs are
supported by columns twenty feet apart, giving an entirely unobstructed open area through
the whole building. The total floor-surface available for exhibition purposes is eighty-five
thousand eight hundred square feet, divided up for the several departments as follows : —
Post-Office Department 6,OOOs quare feet.
Agricultural Department 6,000 "
Interior Department 20,600 "
Smithsonian Institute and Food Fishes 26,600 "
Navy Department 10,400 "
War Department, .... 11,200 "
Treasury Department, 5, 000 "
Total 85,800
On entering the building there is found on one side the Post-Office Department, where
are specimens of all the paraphernalia and apparatus for carrying and distributing the mails,
maps showing the different mail-routes, all the different kinds of stamps, envelopes, and
everything pertaining to mail service. Exterior to the building is one of the cars in com-
plete working order, as built for the fast mail now in operation on our main trunk railroad
lines, and performing such rapid and effective duty.
On the other side, in the Agricultural Department, are collected samples of all the
varieties of grain grown in the United States, stuffed specimens of domestic fowls, sample-
bottles of the different native wines, etc. ; and on the walls are charts showing the areas
in which are grown the various products of the soil— cotton, corn, wheat, etc. — with the
HISTORY OF THE
comparative amounts in each locality, represented by intensity of color, — giving so much
instruction at a glance.
As we advance, we come to the Department of the Interior, where a large space is
The Chinese Court— Main lluihlini;.
occupied with models for the Patent Office, also various appliances for educational pur-
poses, exhibits giving information in reference to the Indian Territory and the Indians,
their education, occupations, etc. ; and finally in the far corner we come to that collection
so absorbing to the antiquarian, which shows to the visitor the few evidences that have
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
been discovered in reference to the most remarkable and ancient inhabitants known to
have existed on this continent — the dwellers of the cave-cities.
Across the aisle from the Interior Department is the exhibit of the Smithsonian Insti-
tution and the splendid collection of food fishes, so interesting and instructive.
In the front of the building, on one side, is the Navy Department, where are seen
models of various vessels — the " Constitution," hospital-ships, school-ships, etc. — life-size
figures of soldiers and sailors in old-time costumes, specimens of the various signals used
at sea, the different weapons of marine warfare, and numerous other objects of naval
interest.
In the War Department the complete machinery for the manufacture of arms, car-
tridges, etc., is shown, and a very interesting collection of fire-arms from early days to the
present time.
In the Engineering Department are to be found many models of fortifications and other
works, including a very fine one of General Newton's Hell Gate improvements ; also maps
and statistics of the Coast Survey.
In the Treasury Department the exhibit of tlie Light-House Board is particularly notice-
able; and on these hot summer days it is a great relief to look across the aisle at the
immense refrigerators, through the glass sides of which may be seen fruit, fish c-tc, frozen
solid, and appearing so refreshingly cool.
In passing from the building, let us pause at the Trois Freres Restaurant for refresh-
ment. We obtain it, but are glad to get away. What is furnished is good, but the prices
are exorbitant, and the waiters insolent. The building itself especially the rear view on
the lake, is a disgrace to the Exhibition, a blot on the landscape, and should never ha\'e
been allowed an existence.
Around the Government Building are grouped several other small buildings connected
with the Government exhibit, the most important being the Post Hospital of the Medical
Department, one wing of which is fitted up with twenty-four beds, bedding and other fur-
niture as for actual service. In the remainder of this building, and in sheds and tents
adjoining, are exhibited a complete series of the medical supplies used in the army, com-
prising medicines, medical and surgical instruments, hospital stores, clothing and furniture,
meteorological instruments, etc., all the various blank forms and record-books of the Medical
Department, a set of the publications of the Surgeon-General's office, selected medical, sur-
gical, anatomical, and microscopical specimens, models of barrack hospitals, railroad-cars
for transportation of sick and wounded, and hospital steamships and steamboats. There is
also a selection of full-sized ambulances and medicine wagons.
The Signal Service make an interesting exhibit, to the west of the Government Building,
showing a full telegraphic train of wagons with outfit complete, telegraphic tower, inter-
national and cautionary signal outfits, and a full assortment of barometers, thermometers,
anemometers, etc., etc.
From here we stroll up Fountain Avenue and on towards Horticultural Hall, past
lovely parterres of flowers, exquisite sunken beds in masses of color, clusters of shrubberv
and roses, and groups of sub-tropical plants — the whole Lansdowne plateau between Bel-
HISTOR Y OF THE
mont Avenue and the Hall being laid out in a way to equal even European gardens in
its beauty and effect. As we approach the Hall we see to the north a sort of tent, or
frame-work covered with canvas, around which a crowd is gathered, and, like all Americans,
not being able to resist the desire to satisfy our curiosity, we are drawn towards it. Reaching
the doorway we involuntarily give an exclamation of delight at the beautiful sight which
bursts upon our view. The interior is arranged with winding walks, and mounds planted
out with an assortment of English Rhododendrons, covered with lovely flowers, large in
size, and varying in color from the deepest purple, crimson, pink, and cherr}-, to pure white, —
The Jiuiiiaii Educalional Deparlmciit — Mnin Building.
a perfect feast to the eye, and something that one can never forget. These plants were
brought from England early in the Spring, with great care, and have surpassed all expec-
tation in the magnificence of their bloom, enabling those who have not already seen them
abroad to form some idea of the effect that acres of such plants produce at the great
English country seats. With proper care, shading by groups of trees, and protecting from
our hot suns and severe winters, these plants will do equally well in this country, contrarj'
to the usually received ideas on this subject, as has been amply proved by some of our
best horticulturists and amateurs. Too often they are badly treated, and result only in
disappointment. The American Rhododendron is the name b)- which it is known abroad.
These handsome varieties have a common stock in the wild rhododendron of our Alle-
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
ghenies, and if treated as that which grows* in the clearings on the borders of the forests,
they will amply repay cultivation.
Horticultural Hall is well located on a terrace, and is an extremely ornate and com-
modious building, constructed in the Moorish style from appropriations made by the city
of Philadelphia, to whose munificence is due this permanent attraction to the Park. The
building is three hundred and eighty-three feet long, one hundred and ninety-three feet
wide, and seventy-two feet high to the top of the lantern. The central portion is a con-
servatory of two hundred and thirty by eighty feet in area, and fifty-five feet in height,
surmounted by a lantern one hundred and seventy feet long, twenty feet wide, and fourteen
feet high. A gallery five feet wide extends entirely around the interior of this conserva-
tory at a height of twenty feet from the floor. The forcing-houses, four in number, are
on the north and south sides of this principal room, each covering a space of one hundred
by thirty feet, and having an entrance vestibule to the conservatory, thirty feet square,
dividing the two houses on each side. Similar vestibules exist at the centres of the east
and west ends of the building, on either side of which are restaurants, reception-rooms, etc-
Ornamental stairways from the vestibules lead to the internal galleries of the conservatory
and also to four external galleries over the forcing-houses, each one hundred by ten feet.
The latter connect with large platforms over the roofs of the vestibules and other ground-
floor rooms, which give a superficial area for promenade purposes of eighteen hundred
square yards. Flights of blue marble steps lead to the terrace around the building and
to the entrances, open kiosques twenty feet in diameter being placed at the east and west
ends. The basement is of fire-proof construction, and here are located the kitchens, store-
rooms, heating apparatus, coal-houses, ash-pits, etc. The area for exhibition purposes
amounts to one hundred and twenty-two thousand five hundred square feet. The frame-
work of the building is of iron, the conservatory walls up to the gallery floor being of
ornamental brick arches, an excellent specimen of work of this kind, supported on iron
columns ; and the forcing-houses are covered by curved roofs of iron and glass. The
fiUing-in and finishing material of the building, where glass is not used, is principally of
wood, which is very much to be regretted, as the damp atmosphere necessarily required
in a conservatory will cause it to decay very rapidly, and soon demand its replacement
with a more permanent material. The collection of plants within the conservatory is quite
as good as could be expected, considering the extremely short time at command in which
to make it, and the great difficulty of obtaining such large and capable conservatory plants
as would here be required to produce an effect. Miss Foley's beautiful fountain in the
centre adds very much to the tout ensemble. The impression produced by the exterior of
the building as a whole is quite satisfactory, and the design of the ornamentation and
coloring very pleasing. The grounds contiguous to the Horticultural Building and com-
prised within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Horticulture, comprise over forty acres,
and the manner in which they have been laid out does the Chief and his committee great
credit.
Just south of the Horticultural Hall is an exhibit by a Cuban, of Cacti and kindred
plants, very nicely arranged, presenting many quite curious varieties, and giving to the
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
visitor an exctiUent idea of the landscape effect of these plants in their native climes. We
glance over at the Philadelphia City Building, and then wend our way down the path along
the edge of the Lansdowne Ravine, passing a small building belonging to the Bible Society,
then quite a picturesque restaurant erected by the Milk Dairy Association, where pure milk
and, without exception, the best ice cream at the Exhibition may be obtained, and soon
reach Agricultural Avenue. In front of us is the building of the Brazilian Empire, and
beyond, that of the German Government. Between the latter and Belmont Avenue is a
little Moorish villa, and at the door stands an attendant, a Moor from Tangier, possessing
fine features, thoroughly oriental in style, and dressed in turban and flowing yellow costume.
Entering, we find the little building arranged and furnished throughout with hangings,
divans, carpets, and furniture, all genuine and in complete keeping with the house a veri-
table Moorish villa on a small scale.
Retracing our way, we see the building of the Centennial Medical Department, a most
useful and essential agency, where are treated all cases among the many visitors requiring
prompt attention. Of all the beautiful features in these unrivaled Exhibition grounds, the
Lansdowne Ravine carries off the palm. Its shady walks, winding in and out between the
magnificent forest trees and among the undergrowth ; the little babbling brook, as it leaps
from stone to stone on its way towards the river, and its secluded and romantic aspect, all
unite in inviting the visitor away from the crowds about him, to a contemplative stroll.
From the pretty music pavilion on the other side of the ravine float the sweet strains of
the Government Marine Band as it performs its afternoon programme. As we saunter down
the walks into the deepest and darkest part of the ravine, we suddenly come upon a hunter's
camp, perfect in all its details, and we are transported for a moment far away from the
busy scenes around us to the distant western country, to the aboriginal forests. Here is a
phase of American life that must be new and interesting not only to most of our foreign
friends, but also to many of our own people from the eastern States, where civilization is
rapidly crowding out all traces of colonial life.
The ravine is crossed by two bridges — one near its upper end, consisting ol two spans
of a braced arch carriage-bridge, erected as an exhibit by the King Bridge Company of
Cleveland, Ohio, and used as a means of communication on foot over the ravine ; and the
other a more pretentious structure, across the lower part, on the boundary-line of the Exhi-
bition grounds, built by the Centennial Board of Finance, partly as a footway for visitors
to the Exhibition, and partly as a carriage -bridge for park purposes outside of the grounds,
connecting the two portions of tlie Lansdowne Ravine which have been separated by the
arrangement of the Exhibition area. The latter bridge consists of twelve spans, of which
the three centre spans are eighty feet, the two intermediate ones sixty feet, and the seven
end spans twenty feet each. The total length of superstructure, including spaces over piers
and abutments, amounts to five hundred and fifteen feet, and there are approach walls at
the north and south ends of forty-five and one hundred and twenty-five feet respectively,
making an extreme length of hand-railing on bridge and approaches of six hundred and
eighty-five feet. The width of roadway is sixty feet, and thei-e are two outside footways
of ten feet each, making a total width of bridge of eighty feet. The boundary-fence of
cxl
HISTORY OF THE
the grounds extends over the bridge, including witiiin its jurisdiction one footwalk and
twenty feet of the roadway for Exhibition use. The distance from centre to centre of con-
secutive trusses in the same span is fifteen feet, and the projection of footwalks beyond the
trusses seven and a half feet. The spans of sixty and eighty feet consist of single inter-
Belmoni Avenue.
section, deck, Pratt trusses, with timber upper chords and posts, and wrought-iron lower
chords and other tension members, vertical diagonal bracing being introduced between each
of the posts in the trusses, and upper lateral bracing between the upper chords of the two
outer trusses only, and continued to the abutments at the ends. Masonry foundations are
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. cxli
used throughout, timber trestles being erected on the piers. These are neatly framed with
combination-posts, the pieces firmly bolted and mortised together, forming a stiff, rigid system,
and vertical diagonal bracing is placed between each of the posts. Wind-ties connect the
lower chords of the truss-spans with the trestles, those on the outer ends of the sixty-feet
spans being firmly bolted to the masonry. The foundations are carefully laid with the best
quality of stone of good size and shape, and the masonry above ground is of rock range
work, pointed with dark mortar, the coping and cap-stones being of light sand-stone,
hammer-dressed, with sloping top and draft on the faces. The bearings at top and bottom
of posts and on trestles, and the finish to hand-rail over abutments, are of cast iron. The
lumber used in the structure is nearly all of white pine, that in the trestles,, columns, truss-
posts, upper chords, and lateral struts being dressed. The flooring on roadway consists of two
thicknesses of two-inch plank, the lower layer being of white pine laid diagonally, and the
upper of white oak laid at right angles to the line of travel. The foot-walks are also covered
with two thicknesses of flooring, the lower layer being two-inch white pine, and the upper, one
and a quarter inch yellow pine, tongued and grooved and laid longitudinally to the structure.
The curbs are of white oak. The bridge has been very neatly painted in shades of buff,
relieved with Indian red in the chamfers and on the ornamental parts, and presents quite a hand-
some appearance. The height of the floor above the ground at the centre of the structure is
sixty-eight feet, and a very fine view up the Schuylkill River may be obtained from this point.
Returning along the avenue on the south side of the ravine, we first pass, with averted
head, a building devoted to an exhibit exclusively of burial-caskets, very fine, no doubt, but
hardly attractive to the pleasure-seeking crowd ; then a very creditable structure erected by
the Singer Sewing-Machine Company for its special exhibit, where is kept a book in which
some one of all those registering their names may have the good fortune, at the close of the
Exhibition, to draw a machine. We pause at an octagonal building containing the Pennsyl-
vania Educational exhibit, where is a most interesting collection of apparatus, furniture and
all appliances as used in the various grades of public schools in the State ; also specimens
from the schools of design, institutions for the blind, etc.
We are warned, however, by the fog-horn stationed near the Government Building, that
the hour of closing draws near, and we must take our departure for the day. Foremost
among the many excellent arrangements for the convenience of visitors to the Exhibition may
be mentioned the numerous cheap routes to and fro, connecting with the very heart of the
city. There are five lines of street-cars from the front on Elm Avenue, two steam railways —
the Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia and Reading — and finally the little pleasure paddle-
boats on the Schuylkill. Our choice for this evening is the latter, and we turn down into Lans-
downe Ravine, past the Sudreau restaurant, which, as we glance up to it, looks so invitingly
cool and pleasant under the canopy over its flat-deck roof, that we inwardly determine to test
its cuisine on the morrow. Passing down the lovely glen, we emerge into the open park
beyond the Exhibition boundary, and soon reach the river. We take the opportunity to pause
for a moment to examine the two large Worthington steam-pumps in a building near by,
belonging to the water service of the Exhibition, and so efficiently performing their duty, and
then go on to the little steamboat-landing. As the long summer day has not }-et drawn to a
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. cxliii
close, we decide to take the steamer up the river to the Falls, about two miles above, and so
enjoy the round trip. Philadelphia may well be pardoned for boasting of her magnificent
park. What city in the world has one so lovel}', possessing such great natural advantages,
and with so beautiful a river winding througli it? We glide on, under the old bridge, past
the wooded hills sloping down to the water's edge and making such exquisite reflections, and
as we glance back we see the various buildings of the Exhibition in the distance, rising
gradually out from among the masses of foliage, calling to mind Lewis's charming picture
of " 1876," as it now hangs in the Art Gallery. A few days ago one lovely afternoon we
came this same way, but for how different a purpose ! There are sad as well as joyful
pictures in every phase of life. Then we landed at Laurel Hill, the " Home of the Dead,"
that we see on our right, with its white monuments peeping out from among the trees, and
we joined a quiet Httle procession to the chapel. A young Englishman, a member of the
British Commission to the Exhibition, was being carried to his last resting-place, far away
from kindred and friends — no! not friends, for during his short stay of barely six months
he endeared himself to a large circle, and made many warm friends, who mourned his
untimely death, and sorrowfully paid him those last tributes of respect which are due from
the living. There on a sunny slope, overlooking one of the loveliest scenes in this fair
land, they laid him to await the Resurrection morn.
Another day, and after entering the Main Building we pass directly through to the
Art Gallery on the north side, erected on the most commanding portion of the great Lans-
downe Plateau, one hundred and sixteen feet above the river, and intended as a permanent
memorial of this the Centennial year. Bearing this point in view, it is but natural that
one should expect the building to represent in itself, in its design and construction, the
progress that the nation has made in Engineering and Architecture during the past one
hundred years. In this respect it is a disappointment. There is a want of harmony in
the proportions ; the dome should have been larger and higher, and a simpler and bolder
treatment throughout, with less of commonplace ornamentation, would undoubtedly have
produced a better result.
Passing up the steps of the approach, we see on our right and left the great bronze
horses, so mistakenly brought from Vienna several years since, after rejection from the
Grand Opera House of that city, and here so singularly given a chief place in our World's
Fair embellishments. Further on and near the building are two handsome bronzes — on
the right. Wolf's "Dead Lioness," and on the left, Mead's group of "The Navy," for the
Lincoln monument at Springfield, Illinois. The building covers an area of about an acre
and a half, and is intended to be fire-proof Its general outline in plan is a rectangle of
three hundred and sixty-five by two hundred feet, with a pa\'ilion of forty-five feet square
at each corner, and a central projection ninety-five feet in width on the south, extending
ten feet beyond the general face of the building.
The style of architecture is the Renaissance. The central portion of the southern
front, seventy-two feet in height, contains three colossal arched main-entrance doorways,
and is connected on each side by groined arch arcades ninety feet long and forty-five feet
high, witli the corner pavilions, which are si.xty feet in height. In the rear of these arcades
cxliv
HISTORY OF THE
are open courts, ninety by thirty-six feet, paved, ornamented with fountains and plants, and
intended for the display of statuary. The main cornice of the front is surmounted with a
balustrade having emblematic figures at the corners and candelabras at intermediate points.
Over the centre of the structure an octagonal dome, on a square base, rises to a height
of one hundred and thirty-four feet, crowned with a colossal figure of Columbia, the top
of which is one hundred and fifty-seven and a half feet above the ground. On the four
corners of the base are figures typical of the four quarters of the globe. The corner
pavilions have large windows ; the walls of the east and west sides are relieved by niches
intended for statues, and the rear or north front is designed in the same general character
New yersey Stale Building _
as the south front, except that the arcades are omitted, and in their place are walls pierced
with windows.
The main entrance vestibule on the south is a hall of eighty-two by sixty feet, and
fifty-three feet high, lighted by windows opening into the courts, and by transoms over the
entrance-doors. Beyond, under the dome, is the grand central hall, eighty-three feet square,
with a height of seventy-nine feet to the uppermost point of the ceiling. East and west
of this are the two main picture-galleries, each ninety-eight feet long by eighty-four feet
wide, and thirty-five feet high, connected with the central hall by three arched doorways,
and forming with it a grand area of two hundred and eighty-seven by eighty-four feet,
capable of containing eight thousand people. Beyond these are smaller picture-galleries of
twenty-eight by eighty-nine feet, running north and south between the corner pavilions. A
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. cxlv
corridor of fourteen feet in width extends along the whole length of the north side of the
central hall and main galleries, opening on its outer line into a series of private rooms
intended for studios, etc., and having a second story of rooms above. The central hall is
lighted from the dome, the main picture-galleries from the roof, and the smaller rooms by side
windows.
The foundations of the building are of rubble masonry, the exterior walls of granite,
backed with brick, and the inner walls of brick. On piers of masonry in the basement are
iron columns supporting wrought-iron beams, which carry the flooring of brick arches and
tile. Where a second story occurs, the floors are laid in the same way. Over the four corner
pavilions and the small rooms on the north side of the building, the roofs are carried by light
boiler-plate girders ; while over the main vestibule, wrought-iron open trusses are used, the
covering being of tin on sheathing-boards and wooden purlines. Wrought-iron trusses are
also employed over the picture-galleries, supporting roof-lights of three-eighth inch rolled
glass. The arrangement of the dome is somewhat unique. Had it rested on the main walls,
it would have been of the same size as the grand central hall below ; but in order to reduce it,
four trusses parallel with these walls, and situated at a distance of eight and a half feet from
them, are used as supports. The frame-work of the dome consists of sixteen, built, wrought-
iron ribs, resting at their lower ends on these trusses, and meeting at the crown in a heavy
wrought-iron ring, the whole forming in plan a square figure with the corners cut off Hori-
zontal tie-rods connect the opposite ribs together, and wind-bracing is introduced above.
Horizontal struts at four points stiffen the ribs laterally, and assist to carry the iron frame-
work for the glass. The false dome on the interior is constructed with a light frame-work of
wrought iron, footing on the supporting trusses of the main dome, and having at the crown a
ring twelve and a half feet in diameter.
The interior finish is of plaster, the heavy cornices, ceilings, mouldings, etc., being
worked on light iron frame-work and wire-netting, and the ceilings of the picture-galleries are
of glass in wooden frames, suspended from the roof-trusses. Steam-heating is provided from
boilers in the basement.
We. cannot stop to examine the pictures. The crowd is too great, and it would take days
to study them properly. We can therefore only glance at them hurriedly, and move on to
the next building. The Art Annex, north of Memorial Hall. The latter building having been
found entirely too small for the vast collection being sent to the Exhibition, it became neces-
sary at the last moment to erect this additional edifice, which was hurriedly constructed — a
plain brick building without any pretension, consisting of a number of rooms, opening one
into the other, and furnishing the requisite wall-space. Two corridors, each twenty feet in
width, cross each other at right angles at the centre of the building. Passing in at the south
entrance, we find ourselves in a large gallery, one hundred by fifty-four feet, devoted to
statuary, paintings, and mosaics from Italy. Moving on through this, we enter the north
and south corridor, on both sides of which are, first, a series of three, and then one of four
galleries, those of a series being arranged one beyond the other, each room forty feet square.
This brings us into the east and west corridor at the centre of the building. North of this
the arrangement is symmetrical with that on the south, except that at the extreme north end
cxlvi
HISTORY OF THE
Main Building — Unlral Avenne io^'kuig West.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76. cxlvii
the corridor passes through to the entrance, with a gallery on each side, instead of all being
thrown into one large room, as at the south end. The various galleries communicate with
each other at their corners — an excellent arrangement, securing the greatest possible amount
of useful wall-surface. The floor-area of the building amounts to sixty-four thousand two
hundred square feet, and the available space for paintings to sixty thousand square feet.
Making our exit at the eastern doorway, we find ourselves in close proximity to three
buildings connected with the French Government exhibit — one being devoted to Stained
Glass, another to Lines of Art, and the third and largest to the exhibit of the Department of
Public Works. The latter building is interesting as being entirely fire-proof, and constructed
of iron, brick, tiles, and glass, all of which were brought from France for the purpose. The
collection in it is one of great value and of special interest to the engineer, consisting of
beautiful models of famous works erected under direction of the Government, a more detailed
description of which will be found under the head of "Mechanics and Science."
We are now so close to the Vienna Bakery that we cannot resist the temptation to try
some of Gaff, Fleischmann & Co.'s world-renowned bread, with one of those delicious cups
of "Chocolat a la Creme" which so delight the taste. Thus refreshed, after glancing in at the
large windows and observing the process of bread-making, we move on, and taking a look at
the police barracks and fire-patrol buildings, so useful if not otherwise interesting, we are
attracted by a neat structure having the appearance of a railroad station, and which we find to
be an exhibit of the Empire Transportation Company. Exterior to the building is a section
of railway track, on which is a beautiful and complete working model of a locomotive,
one-fourth full size, drawing a train of model freight cars. In the interior are seen a most
interesting set of models, very fully illustrating the freight shipping business of this Company;
propellers and grain-elevators of the Lake Transportation ; models of petroleum oil-wells in
working order, with all the adjuncts; oil pipe lines, showing the method of loading the oil on
cars; models of shipping piers and depots on the large rivers, and many other matters of
great interest.
Near by is the Bankers' exhibit, and further on is the Photographic Building, quite a neat
structure, well adapted for its purpose, and covering an area of two hundred and fifty-eight by
one hundred and seven feet. The walls are crowded with admirable displays of photographs
from almost all parts of the civilized world, and some of the English landscapes are perfectly
exquisite, far surpassing the most extravagant hopes of the photographer of fifteen years ago.
Moving through this building, and continuing on the avenue past the front of Memorial Hall,
we arrive at the Carriage Annex, a building three hundred and fort)'-six b)- two hundred and
thirty-one feet, constructed of timber-framing, covered with corrugated iron, in which is made
an exceedingly handsome display of carriages from many of the prominent builders of the
world. Here are found the famous London drags, Philadelphia phretons, beautiful carriages
from San Francisco, sleighs from Russia, also Pullman palace-cars, and in one part of the
building, household appliances, cooking-ranges, etc.
Just to the rear of the Carriage Annex is the Swedish School-house, one of the most
thoroughly national buildings on the grounds. It covers an area of about sixty by thirty-six
feet, and is twenty-five feet high, being designed exactly after the school-houses used in
cxlviii
HISTORY OF THE
Sweden, although more neatly finished on the exterior. It is constructed of white pine logs,
laid horizontally, with the curved faces visible, and having a bold roof, carried on massive
brackets formed by the projecting ends of the logs. The material was all framed and brought
Main BuLldlili:—yapa>US( Ci
from Sweden ready for erection. We are met at the entrance and conducted through the
building by a most genial gentleman, Mr. C. J. Meyerberg, the Swedish Commissioner for the
Educational Department, and one of the first Government school-inspectors of Stockholm.
Nothing receives so much attention in Sweden as the subject of education, and every inhab-
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. cxlix
itant of the country is placed on an equal footing in this respect, it being not only free but
obligator)-, the Government paying for the entire cost. No difference is made between the
children of the peasant and those of the nobleman ; each may acquire precisely the same
education. If the workman is too poor to clothe his child for school, the Government does
it. If he refuses to send him, and prefers to keep him at work, he is summoned first before
his clergyman, and if that fails, then before the Board of Education. If obedience is still
declined, the Government has the power to put the parents into the work-house, and take the
children and educate them.
The building which we see before us represents a country school-house intended for
primary classes, and capable of accommodating about fifty children. Its dimensions, light
and ventilation are all regulated by law, the school-room being forty by twenty-two feet,
and twelve feet high, giving two hundred and eleven and two-tenths cubic feet of air, and
seventeen and si.x-tenths square feet of floor-space, to each scholar, the area of the windows
being such as to allow three and si.x-tenths square feet per child. Two rooms on the
ground-floor next to the main room are provided for the schoolmaster as a dwelling, and
the upper story gives a sleeping-room and store-room. Outside is a space of ground for
a garden, where he may practically instruct the scholars in horticulture.
Every appliance is provided in the school-room that will facilitate the teacher in
imparting instruction, as well as add to the comfort and health of the children. The science
of object-teaching appears to have been well considered. We see here cubes and other
geometrical forms; bundles of sticks for counting; an abacus, or instrument for performing
calculations by means of balls on wires ; maps of various districts of Sweden, giving the
mountain-ranges, the political divisions, the water-surface, etc.; and illustrations showing
the occupations of the inhabitants in the different parts of the country, such as lumbering,
mining, hunting and fishing. There are also good collections of minerals, fine specimens
of pressed plants, insects, stuffed animals, shells, etc, ; a cabinet-organ, and good service-
able and comfortable desks and stools. Everything in the school-room is characterized
by extreme cheapness, with good quality and solid usefulness, and the brightness and
attractiveness of the room is in marked contrast with the bare school-rooms of our own
country. How much more likely is a child rendered willing to go to school and to study
if everything is made pleasant and cheerful around him, instead of being dull and gloomy.
The morning hours are occupied in study, and the afternoon, for boys in practical
instruction in carpentry, cabinet-work, drawing, boot-making, and other trades, while for
girls, in sewing, knitting or drawing. Every one in Sweden learns at least to read and
write. No one can be confirmed without so doing, and all must remain at school until
that time, the minimum age being twelve years. No one can be married, give evidence
or become a soldier unless confirmed. The conscription takes place in Sweden between
the ages of twenty and twenty-five, and all must necessarily have received at least an
elementary education.
The lowest class of school is the infant, the teachers generally being females; the
course of instruction comprising reading, writing, arithmetic, history, singing and religion.
The latter is not taught if the child docs not belong to the established faith, unless it is
HISTORY OF THE
particularly so requested. Then follows the primary school, as here seen, where are taught
in addition, natural history, physics, geography, grammar, drawing, geometry, chemistry,
gymnastics and drilling. The teachers of the primary schools must have been at least
three years at the Normal school, and have obtained from it a certificate. Next come the
higher primary schools, where the same instruction is continued, only of a higher grade,
and then the grammar or high schools, of which there are two kinds. In one are taught
German, French and English, mathematics and the natural sciences ; while in the other,
instruction is given also in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, thus preparing the student for either of
the two universities, Upsala or Lund. In addition to all of these, there are seven higher
technical schools, also special schools of navigation, agriculture and forestry. There are also
national high schools, where persons of from twenty to forty years of age may be taught to
Ohio Stale BuilJiiu'
be good citizens, instructed in the laws, municipal institutions, and general administration of
the country; may be taught surveying, book-keeping, etc., and where once a week a sort of
court of common council is held in order to train the people to administrative duties. It is to
these schools, greatly aided by private contributions, that Sweden largely owes her high
position of independence and truthfulness of character.
Having, however, spent too long a time already in this interesting spot, we take leave of
our kind friend, and stepping across the avenue, find ourselves in front of the Japanese Bazaar.
It is a long, low, wooden building, strictly national in its character and construction, built by
Japanese workmen with materials brought from the " Kingdom of the Rising Sun." The
north front is open with overhanging eaves, and here are counters on which are displayed the
numerous goods for sale. The roof is covered with heavy corrugated earthen tiles, and the
sides are enclosed with sliding wooden shutters and paper screens. E.xquisite designs in wood-
work and carvings adorn and beautify the building, and the ceilings, walls and floors are
painted in tile patterns. The grounds adjoining are laid out as closely as possible in accord-
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
cli
ance with the rules of Japanese landscape-gardening. Two large catalpa trees with their long
hano-ino- beans stand in the foreground, and lend their aid to the effect, being decidedly in
keeping with the scene, although natives to the soil. A little fountain occupies a place
immediately in front of the building, and winding walks among grassy slopes lead down to
the main avenue. A number of gigantic cranes in antique bronze are placed around under
the trees, lifting their heads way up almost to the leaves, and one sees also on the ground
some very curious bronze pigs, exceedingly ludicrous, and without the least particle of beauty,
clii HISTORY OF THE
more like infant hippopotamuses than anything else. Lawn vases, urns and other adornments
of strange design aid in giving a foreign air to the surroundings ; and on the east side of the
building is a most interesting garden, so quaint and so evidently entirely Japanese, that as we
wander up and down the regular walks and look at the beds of lilies and strange flowers, it
takes very little effort to imagine one's self transported to that far-off country in the Pacific
Ocean. Here is a little square pit sunk in one corner of the garden for the cultivation of
aquatic plants, and there are curious dwarf-trees, like the figures on the old vases at home,
planted in pots and stood on odd-looking benches. Under a bamboo awning are certain plants
which we presume could not be exposed to the strong rays of the sun. The counters in the
front part of the building are crowded with articles of porcelain, bamboo and lacquered ware,
which are being disposed of in large quantities, the courteous Japanese attendants attracting a
large share of attention on their own personal account, many of our country friends having
evidently never seen a "Jap" before.
Between us and the Avenue of the Republic is the Department of Public Comfort, a
building erected for the comfort and convenience of visitors, having a frontage of two hundred
and seventy-five feet, with a depth of one hundred feet, and containing restaurants and recep-
tion-rooms, halls and baggage-rooms, telegraph-rooms where messages may be forwarded to
all parts of the world, and rooms for the United States Centennial Commission.
Nc.Kt to this building, on the west, is the Judges' Hall, fronting directly on the centre of
the large open space between the Main Building and Machinery Hall. It is a neat, plain
building, with rather a pleasing outline, having an arched roof over the centre portion, showing
the construction lines, and ornamented with two belfries. It is designed for the meetings and
discussions of the Judges of the P^.xhibition, and for all business connected with the giving of
awards. It contains a large central hall having a gallcr\', and surrounded with two stories of
small committee-rooms for the different groups of Judges. It was here in the latter part of
June that the brilliant and interesting wedding-ceremony of the marriage of the daughter of
the Swedish Commissioner-General to the Norwegian Commissioner took place — a pleasant
and novel incident, of the kind seldom recorded in the history of exhibitions, and adding a
charm to the memories of the year.
In the corner next to Belmont Avenue is the Pennsylvania Railroad Ticket Office, and
directly across the way, the establishment of the world-renowned Cook Tourist Agency, a
little many-sided building, in the rear of which is pitched a Palestine encampment, illustrative
of the manner in which the " Cookies," as a noted traveller calls them, are taken care of when
journeying thniugh that country. In the interior of the building is a bazaar for the sale of
ornaments in olive-wood, and various other oriental articles of bijoutry, and in one little room
is a genuine mummy, claiming to be a princess of the royal blood, who departed this life some
two thousand years ago, not exhibiting any special beauty, however, at the present time, nor
showing stronger credentials than the thousand and one other mummies that have been
exhumed on the banks of the Nile.
Nearly opposite to Cook's office is the building of the Centennial Photographic Associa-
tion, under whose exclusive direction all the photographs of the Exhibition are taken. It
is very conveniently arranged for its purposes, having facilities for doing a large amount
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 187c
cliv HISTORY OF THE
of work, and to one interested in the details of the art, this department of the Exliibition is
well worth a visit.
We will close the labors of the day by one of the really most delightful pleasures that
the Exhibition affords, especially towards evening, when the heated hours are past, and the
tired body needs a little rest before starting for home. We will take an excursion on the
narrow-gauge railway. This feature is something entirely new, has never been introduced
before at an exhibition, and has proved a most signal success. Nothing gives the visitor a
better idea of the topography and e.vtent of the grounds, and fixes more satisfactorily in his
mind the locations of the various buildings, than a series of trips on this line. Entering at
tiie station in front of the Department of Public Comfort and paying our five cents fare, a
train draws up and we are soon off. The cars are open and airy, being merely platform-cars
with seats, and roof supported by posts, admitting an unobstructed view on all sides. We
turn the corner into Belmont Avenue at a rapid rate, the summer breeze fanning our cheeks,
and the little "Emma," a diminutive locomotive, an infant among engines, as it were, puffing
and blowing, but coming up nobly to the work. On we go, past the lake with its fountain
glistening in the setting sun, and we draw up in a few moments at the station near the
Women's Pavilion, having only just time, before we stop, to glance at the lovely grounds and
flowers in the direction of Horticultural Hall. Then on we start again, passing the pic-
turesque New Jersey Building, and suddenly swinging on a curve to our right, around the
Southern Restaurant, we skirt the upper part of Belmont Ravine, and come out in front of
the Agricultural Building, where we make another station. Near by is the American Restau-
rant, and under the trees we see the little tables, all crowded with hungry and thirsty
occupants. Then by a series of graceful curves we leave all this in the distance, and reach the
land of wind-mills. Mounting a steep grade, and curving to our left, we approach the north
side of the Agricultural Building. The grade now descends rapidly; our speed is increased
until one almost holds his breath, and sweeping round the corner of this building we find
that we have doubled on ourselves, and are back again at the Southern Restaurant, the four
tracks all running together for a short distance. Here, however, we take a new departure,
and darting across Belmont Avenue in the rear of the Government Building, we go through,
as yet to us, une.xplored ground. On our right are the State Buildings — Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, etc. — one after the other, until the British Government Buildings loom into sight. As
we turn and look back towards the Main Building, we are treated to one of the most beautiful
sights it has ever been our fortune to witness. We are on a slightly rising slope, and the
whole extent of the Main Building and Machinery Hall, nearly four thousand feet in length,
comes into view. The Main Building is one blaze of light, of flaming fire, from end to end,
owing to the reflections on the glass of the rays from the departing sun. It is a grand illumi-
nation. In the foreground the fountain has ceased to play, and the now quiet lake, a bright
gem in its green setting, reflects every line and flash. The dome of Memorial Hall looks up
over the trees, and the lesser buildings are grouped at various points. Restless, happy crowds
are flitting from point to point, and the whole looks like fairy-land, an incantation scene,
something that we wish would never pass away.
But our train moves on, and sweeping through a village of buildings, we take another
I NTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76. civ
great circle, and turning past the west front of Machinery Hall, are back into the Avenue of
the Republic, soon reaching our starting-point. All in fifteen minutes! is it possible? Round
the world in miniature in fifteen minutes? It is so exhilarating and so enjoyable that we must
do it again; and thus it is that nearly every evening during our stay do we close with this
dessert, as it were, of the day's feast, until every feature of the grounds becomes thoroughly
impressed upon the mind, never to be effaced.
On our next visit we pass through the Belmont entrance directly to the Women's
Pavilion, the site of women's work. Yes, all by women — the money furnished for the
building, and all of the exhibits made exclusively by women. And much more than this has
been done by them. Where would the Exhibition have been to-day, and its international
features, if it had not been for Women ?
Early in 1873, at the suggestion of the Citizens' Committee of the Board of Finance, it
was decided to enlist the efforts of women in the cause of the Centennial Exhibition, and on
the i6th of February of that year, thirteen patriotic ladies, citizens of Philadelphia, were
named and invited to convene for discussion of the subject. They were met by the President
of the Centennial Board of Finance and several other gentlemen, and after the objects of the
meeting had been stated, these gentlemen withdrew, leaving matters entirely in the hands of
the women to manage for themselves. The ladies came together necessarily without any very
clear ideas of what was to be their work, and unaccustomed to business management. Their
first move was to elect Mrs. E. D. Gillespie as President, as they insisted that nothing could be
done without her in charge. She accepted the honor conferred upon her, but, to use her own
words, "she felt the position a novel one: she had never before presided, and she did not
know what to do. She thinks she suggested to some one to adjourn." So the ladies accord-
ingly adjourned to meet the Monday following, at which time it was agreed that the main
object was to arrange some plan for raising public enthusiasm. It was decided to commence
work in the city and to take it by wards, endeavoring to enlist the services of all who could
give time to the cause, and as thirteen women had been chosen to represent the thirteen
original States, it was suggested that a chairman be appointed for each ward, with a sub-
committee of thirty-si.x to represent the preseiit number of States in the Union, and that these
women should solicit subscriptions to Centennial stock. So the work began, and by the 9th
of June of the same year the ladies had already collected fifty thousand dollars in stock
subscriptions.
In the meantime the Executive Committee of the Commission had sanctioned the
appointment of the women, and the Commission itself had passed complimentary resolutions,
not containing much, it is true, but sufficient to give official recognizance to the organization.
Although the great mass of its work was naturally in Philadelpliia, especially during the
earlier periods of its existence, yet the Committee soon decided that it would not confine
itself to local work, but would branch out all over the country. Communications were
addressed to the Commissioners of the different States and to the Governors of each State
and Territory, asking for the names of suitable ladies to represent their districts, who would
be willing to work for the cause. From many of these no answers were received, and from
others came replies th:it were worth nothing, merely expressing great interest in the
clvi
HISTORY OF THE
Centennial, and containing promises to write wlien the proper person was found. The disap-
pointments were great, but by continued efforts the ladies were finally rewarded in uniting to
the organization the women of thirty-one States.
In starting the work in Philadelphia, each lady took under her charge two or three wards,
and distributed an appeal written by the President. It was not always possible to form sub-
committees of thirty -six, but as soon as a sufficient number of capable and willing ladies had
been found, the work was started. Stock subscriptions were obtained through personal
solicitation from door to door, a large part of the collections being made in this way. These
women, many of whom knew nothing of book-keeping nor of business matters, soon learned
to bring in their accounts showing the stock subscribed, the number of shares, the name of
the subscriber, the amount of money, and the name of the lady collecting, all in systematic
Connecticut St.tte Buitdiiig.
shape. In addition there were proceeds from tea-parties, loan exhibitions and other entertain-
ments, the success of these being due to hard and continuous labor by women alone. In the
short space of three months the subscriptions added to the Treasury of the Board of Finance
by the women amounted to forty-two thousand and sixty dollars, sums being obtained in
many cases from those who would have been reached in no other way, and in all cases after
the wealthy and business class had contributed, the women being "patient gleaners in a field
that had already yielded a rich harvest."
If prosperity had continued, there is no doubt but that the women of this countr\^ would
have collected at least a million of dollars, but with the autumn of 1873 came. the panic, and
the work practically sank to nothing. Application was made to be allowed to collect money
in smaller sums than the ten-dollar stock subscriptions, but this could not be granted, as the
Board of Finance had no power to allow it.
Then came the news from Washington that the International feature of the Exhibition
was in peril, and fourteen women, representing that number of States, went to Washington,
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clvii
with Mrs. Gillespie at the head, including also Mrs. Goddard, the grand-daughter of General
Cass, and Mrs. Etting, the grand-daughter of Roger B. Taney. These patriotic ladies worked
nobly, using every effort in their power to the sustaining of the international feature of the
Exhibition. Letters from women all over the country, especially from the Southern States,
were printed and distributed among the members of Congress. An audience was granted by
the Committee on Appropriations, and there is no doubt but that the favorable report of this
Committee for the retention of the international feature was largely owing to the labors of
these women.
Then in the midst of this came a time when it was judged essential to petition the
Councils of Philadelphia for an additional appropriation of one million of dollars. To obtain
this it seemed necessary to give evidence that the request was approved of by a large number
of citizens, and the women were the only ones that could be called upon to obtain their
names. The President was telegraphed to return immediately on important business. She
was met by one of the prominent gentlemen of the Board of Finance, who said: "Mrs.
Gillespie, we want signatures of citizens to a petition to go before Councils asking for another
million. We think that the fact that Philadelphia has given another million will operate on
the minds of many. The petition must be laid before them in two days. We have no
authority or organization to collect these signatures, and thee has." The chairmen of the ward
committees were telegraphed, the work was cheerfully started and vigorously pushed from
door to door, and on the day appointed the petition was returned with eighty-two thousand
signatures, and the desired appropriation was granted.
Mrs. Gillespie then returned to Washington to her duties there, came home, and again
went back. It was at this time that the meeting with the Appropriation Committee took
place. One gentleman connected with Congressional matters, who was violently opposed to
the Exhibition, said to Mrs. Gillespie, with eyes flashing, "I don't like a female lobby!" But
said Mrs. Gillespie, " Major, we have not lobbied : we merely came here to interview several
of the Senators." Then said the Major, furiously, "The most effective lobbying is done on the
other end of the avenue. I can count on my fingers the names of the gentlemen you have
won over."
Prominent among the pleasurable incidents in connection with the Centennial were the
entertainments organized by the ladies for the purpose of adding to their collections. Late
one afternoon in the autumn of 1873, during a meeting of the ward chairmen of the Ladies'
Executive Committee, a gentleman from Gloucester, New Jersey, came in and said, " I called
to ask whether you knew that the Centennial Anniversary of the Boston Tea-Party will take
place on the l6th of December of this year." The ladies had not thought of it. He then
said that he " had come to suggest that there should be a tea-party in each ward of the city in
commemoration of it." This, however, did not seem feasible, but taking the benefit of his
suggestion, the President thought she could manage to have a "big" tea-party in the Academy
of Music. So it was finally arranged, and the tea-party was given on the evening of Decem-
ber 17th, and repeated the night after, the tea being served by the ladies and their aids in
Martha Washington costume, and special tea-cups, made for the purpose, provided, which
were sold as mementoes. Three thousand of these cups were ordered, and the President was
clviii
HISTORY OF THE
frightened and thought she would never be able to pay for them, until reassured by a gentle-
man friend devoted to the cause, who promised to take the responsibility. So far, however,
from losing on them, more had to be supplied, and ten thousand were disposed of The price
paid for them was one dollar and fifty cents per dozen, and they were sold at twenty-five cents
apiece. After this, tea-parties became the rage. The tea-cups used at a party in Cincinnati
were painted by the ladies with their own fair hands.
On January 26th, 1874, was held in the Academy of Music the Washington Assembly, a
0/ the New England Kitche
superb affair. Then in June there was a Fete Champetre in the Park, a splendid success in
every respect except financially, as crowds of people came who did not pay. The next year
stock subscriptions came in more rapidly. On the twenty-second and twenty-third of Feb-
ruary, 1875, were given two International Assemblies, where the ladies wore costumes repre-
senting different nationalities. By these two entertainments the sum of fourteen thousand
dollars was realized after all expenses were paid. On the same dates of the year following, the
Carnival of Authors netted over eight thousand dollars.
In other localities the same course was pursued. The work was opened in Rhode Island
with a Martha Washington Tea-Party at which was cleared thirty-six hundred dollars. After-
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clix
wards the one hundred and third anniversary of the Burning of the "Gaspey" was celebrated
by a clam-bake, enlivened with music and the actual burning of a rigged vessel representin,"-
the "Gaspey," the evening closing with fireworks. Everything was arranged and managed
entirely by the ladies, except the rigging and operating of the boat. Ten thousand people
were on the grounds, and between two and three thousand dollars were gained for the cause.
During all this time, in addition to the assistance which the ladies were pledged to give
to the Board of Finance, one project lay very near their hearts — an exhibit of women's work,
separate and distinct from all others, by which those who obtain such a scanty subsistence by
the labor of their needle would have an opportunity of seeing what could be done by their
se.x in other and higher branches of industry. They would then discover that some women
had gone far ahead of others, and the more timid would be encouraged to that perseverance
which is almost always sure to bring success. The first intention was to have a separate space
in the Main Building, but the proportions of the general exhibition increased so rapidly as
soon to make it evident that it would be impossible to afford the ladies the area they required.
Steam-power was wanted by the women of Massachusetts for the female operatives of Lowell,
the Educational Committee desired to have a Kindergarten, and so many applications came
pouring in for all sorts of exhibits of women's work, that nothing but a large space would
satisfy them. The ladies had made up their minds to have plenty of room for a complete
exhibit, and it was in danger of not being obtained.
Then it was that the proposition was made for a separate structure, to be paid for from
the contributions raised by themselves, and such a building, it was found, could be erected for
the sum of thirty thousand dollars. After proper consideration it was decided upon, and
application was made to the ladies of the different States for assistance. The first answer
came from Florida with forty-seven dollars and twenty-five cents. Then Rhode Island pledged
herself for three thousand dollars, after which Philadelphia gave five thousand dollars which
she had already raised, and trusted to Providence for more. Massachusetts came forward with
five thousand, and Trenton and Camden each with one thousand dollars. A noble country-
woman abroad, on hearing of the project, sent a check for five thousand dollars, and
subscriptions continued to be given in until the money was raised. While all this was going
on, the ladies still continued their efforts to obtain stock subscriptions, and succeeded in
disposing of over a hundred shares.
America should be proud of her women. From the days of the Revolution until now
they have always come nobly forward when occasion required, and their work for the Centen-
nial is their crowning glory. They have obtained subscriptions to ninety-six hundred shares
of stock, and have collected one hundred and seven thousand three hundred and sixty-three
dollars and twenty-eight cents additional, of which they gave to the Board of Finance, as a
free gift, eight thousand four hundred and forty-eight dollars and eleven cents, and from the
balance paid for their building and all of their expenses, including the running expenses
during the Exhibition. From this fund also came the cost of the grand Chorus for the
opening and closing days, and the price of four thousand three hundred and seventy dollars
for the Centennial March by Wagner. Besides the amount given above, six thousand dollars
was collected from the sale of commemorative medals.
clx
HISTORY OF THE
The labors that have given these results have been voluntary— for love of countr)- — and
full credit should be awarded for the patriotism which induced them. It may be proper to
state that the only pecuniary allowance made by the Board of Finance to the women's
organization has been fifty dollars per month for a Secretar)', and since the month of June,
1874, a salary of seventy-five dollars per month to the President — nothing beyond this. Only
one thing would have perfected the women's work: they slmuld have had a woman for
architect, and this could have been done if it had been thought of in time.
The plan of building is not as well adapted to its purpose as it might be, but the ladies
have endeavored to do their best with it. One-fourth of the area is devoted to foreign
countries, and among the articles here displayed is some of the handiwork of Queen Victoria
and also of her daughters. One-third of the building is assigned to works of Art, and the
Schools of Design of Ne\v York, Boston, Lowell, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh have their
exhibits here. Mrs. Wormley's microscopic engravings and the wood-carvings of the women
of Cincinnati are especially worthy of attention, attracting large crowds. Many lady artists
refused to have their work classified with that of their own sex, preferring to put it in the
general Art Department, but still there is much here that is creditable. We find in this building
a weekly newspaper, called "The New Century for Women," its entire make-up taking place
here, printed and published exclusively by women, and giving a full and exact account of the
exhibits of the Women's Department. Here also is "The National Cookerj' Book," compiled
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
from receipts contributed by the women of the whole country. In " The Bureau of Charities"
are the statistics of a great number of the charitable institutions of the world ; and a large
album from the Empress Augusta, of Germany, contains the pictures of such institutions
under her charge in the city of Berlin. The Pharmaceutical Exhibit of the Women's Medical
College in Philadelphia makes a fine display, showing great care in its preparation and
scientific ability of the highest order.
In an annex near the Women's Pavilion is the Kindergarten— a genuine Froebel Kinder-
garten. The building was erected by the women, the contributions coming largely from the
organization in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and the expenses of the school are borne by a few
ladies who have collected funds for the purpose. It is under the charge of a most able
teacher. Miss Ruth R. Burritt, and the pupils are from the Nursery of the Northern Home for
Friendless Children, a Philadelphia institution. They were placed in training with her for
several months prior to the opening, and now certainly do full justice to her exertions.
Crowds of visitors throng around the building to see the exemplification of Frocbel's method
of nature, and to ask questions in reference to it, making it difficult for one to obtain a favor-
able place of observation. We arrive in time for the opening exercises, and as we enter, the
little orphans, dressed in pink and blue, so innocent, bright and happy, are standing in a circle,
singing their morning hymn. This over, they are asked, one by one, for a little story, each
telling what he or she had done that morning or the day before, or perhaps one of them
making up a little narrative; exercise being thus given to their memories in an interesting
way, at the same time teaching them to put their thoughts into shape and to express them-
selves properly. Then came some songs — " Happy every morning," " Little Mamie loves to
wander from one child to another," etc. — followed by a vigorous march, also, to a " Happy,
merry song," the children winding in and out among each other in regular figures, until all
come opposite to their little tables. Each table has its upper surface laid out in regular
squares by lines an inch apart running in opposite directions, and there is a comfortable seat
provided. The squares formed by the lines are the units of measure for the child in all its
work. To-day is what is called " Clay-Model day." Every day there is something different
to do ; sometimes it is working in colored papers, folding them into shapes, or weaving mats,
and gaining a knowledge of colors ; another time blocks are used— cubes, oblongs, cylinders,
etc. — teaching the solid forms ; or again it is something else. Nothing is made tiresome or
monotonous. There is always variety, and never too long a time at one thing. It is a point
never to make the child weary. Clay-modeling is a favorite occupation, and it is wonderful
what the little children will do. Each one takes its seat, and a restless little boy, full of
nervous energy, is allowed to work it off by giving him the distribution of the tools. A piece
of oil-cloth is placed in front of each, and on it a small lump of moist clay. It is a refined
way of playing mud-pies. First they make balls, then from these cubes, working the sides
flat alternately, and learning the law of opposites. Afterwards each child is allowed to
exercise his own invention and to model what he chooses. Some make birds' nests with eggs,
some apples, and one bright little fellow that we watch makes a little baby in its bath-tub.
Many of these things are rude, it is true, but all are inventive, all original, and some show
considerable ability. No copying is allowed or thought of After this is over, the things are
clxii
HISTORY OF THE
put neatly away, hands are washed, and the children are marched again, first in a circle, each
half passing in opposite directions and chaining into the other; then comes an arm- and foot-
exercise, all done to singing, and after that rubber balls are brought out and held and tossed
to song;.
Main Building — Spanish Court.
Then the children march back to their seats and have a little lunch. Occasion is taken
to teach them politeness, and to wait on and help one another. This over, the tiny napkins
are folded carefully away, and some little play-songs follow, giving gymnastic exercise in the
most pleasant manner, the songs being acted out. We have the "Jolly little Chickadees,"
"This is right and this is left," etc.; and when the happy play is over, they return to the tables
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clxiii
to have the metallic rings. These are about an inch or more in diameter, some whole, some
half and some quarter segments. One little boy takes them and lays a certain number of
each kind, one at a time, before each child, placing them, by direction of the teacher, on the
intersections of certain of the cross lines with which the table is covered. The teacher mean-
while takes occasion to explain all about the rings, how they are made, and where the iron to
make them comes from. The children are then directed to place the rings in position— first a
whole ring, then a half segment at the bottom, then one at the top, another at the right side,
a fourth at the left, and so on until a certain figure is formed. Each child then gives his own
idea of what this figure is like, these ideas for different children being quite varied. One says
a fountain, and another a brush or a fan. Afterwards they are allowed to make their own
figures, and it is curious to watch how they study out and work up such original designs.
Now putting these away and taking up a maple-leaf, the teacher explains all about the tree
from which it was plucked, shows the form of the leaf, impressing it upon their minds, tells its
use and everything in reference to it. And afterwards, when the child walks through the
woods, it picks out the maple-leaf, knows the tree from all the others, and is led to study
nature as a delightful pastime.
Then come the closing exercises with song, and the little good-byes are said, and the
courtesies and bows made, and all depart, bright and cheerful, not tired nor worn out, ready for
their play, and anxious for the morrow to come with its Kindergarten again.
By the Froebel Kindergarten system the child is taught, unknown to itself, habits of
order, attention, application, cheerful obedience, careful manipulation, and a knowledge of
geometrical and natural forms and figures ; and when the time comes for higher studies, he
will be found far in advance of those who have not had these preliminary advantages.
Grouped near the Women's Pavilion are a number of very interesting structures. On the
north is the New Jersey Building, one of the most picturesque and characteristic of the State
edifices, and farther on is the Southern Restaurant. Near by is the Kansas Building, for
which an appropriation of ten thousand dollars was granted by that State, the first of all to
select a site in the Exhibition grounds for such a purpose. The interior is quite unique in its
decorations. Around the sides are hung sheaves of wheat, rye and barley ; under the dome
is a fine bronze fountain from the ladies of Topeka, and above it a full-size model of the Inde-
pendence bell, formed entirely of agricultural products of the State. Wheat-stalks are on
exhibition from five to six and a half feet high, with heads, some of them, six inches long, and
corn is shown up to seventeen and a half feet high, with ears twelve to fifteen inches in length,
and eight to ten feet above the ground, there being from seven to thirteen ears to the stalk.
One wing of the building is appropriated to Colorado, whose exhibit is confined exclusively to
wild animals and birds native to that State. Near by is a very small building which serves to
give Virginia at least a representation, and next to it is that old-time structure, attracting
attention from every one, the "New England Log-House" — a little low building, characteristic
in its appearance of the early colonial days, with a rustic portico in front, over which is a
quaint sentence. "Ye Olden Time," and on one side is nailed a horse-shoe to scare away the
witches. On entering wc find ourselves in a room of one hundred years ago. Ancient dames
in flowered gowns are spinning and performing other domestic duties. In the open fire-place
clxiv
HISTORY OF THE
is a spit with a turkey slowly turning and roasting for a Thanksgi\-ing dinner. There are
shelves of old crockerj', plain-fashioned furniture of that time, and on one of the tables an old
clasped Bible. Herbs and other stores of the careful housewife are hanging from the rafters,
and in the room adjoining is a canopied bed with a patchwork quilt, and alongside a little old
cradle. All are veritable relics of a farmer's home of a century ago, and it is to Miss South-
ivick and iier able corps of assistants from New England that we arc indebted for this picture
of our forefathers' life. We must complete the realization by partaking of some of the New
England dishes so deftly prepared by the good ladies, such food as the old Puritans grew and
wa.xed strong on.
Maui Bialdnig— Egyptian Court.
In striking contrast to this is the next building, an Algerian bootli, devoted to the sale
of trinkets. The attendants are dressed in national costume, true to character, but whether
genuine natives themselves or not, is a doubtful question.
Passing up the adjacent avenue, we soon reach Agricultural Hall, with its Gothic gables
and huge green roof not very prepossessing externally, its design, however, exemplifying a
somewhat novel adaptation of the materials used, wood and glass, to a construction of large
size, giving economy in cost, capability of rapid erection, and at the same time producing a
fine interior effect. The building consists of a nave eight hundred and twenty-seven feet in
length by one hundred feet in width, crossed by three transepts, the central one having a
breadth of one hundred feet, and the two end ones seventy feet each. These avenues are
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clxv
formed of shallow Howe-truss arches, springing vertically from the ground and laid together
at the top in Gothic form, the height from floor to point of arch in the nave and central
transept being seventy-five feet, and in the end transepts seventy feet. • The courts enclosed
between, and the four spaces at the corners of the building, are covered with roofs of ordinary
construction, — the whole comprising a rectangular area of about seven acres.
The exhibits are very profuse, nearly all of the foreign countries being well represented.
Huge stacks of wine-bottles from Spain, Portugal and other wine-growing countries rise up
before us. Brazil sends an immense cotton trophy. In the United States section are the great
mowing-, reaping- and binding-machines, drills, thrashing-machines, and all those farm appli-
ances for which we are becoming so famous, attracting the notice of a large number of
agriculturists from abroad. At the upper end of the nave an old wind-mill looms up, and
near it is a large collection of stuffed animals and some skeleton specimens of the extinct
fauna of another age. The tobacco exhibit is exceedingly perfect, and just beyond it we find
a most complete display of the processes of India-rubber manufacture. On one side is the
plant, next the raw material, and then the different methods of working, and the resulting
products ready for the market, all exhibited in regular order.
Leaving by one of the eastern doors, we enter directly into the Pomological Annex, now
■ being used for a poultry show. Such a chirping and chattering never saluted one's ears
before. Not only fowls, ducks, geese, etc., of all kinds are shown, but all varieties of pigeons,
most lovely cooing doves, rare birds of beautiful plumage, canaries, fancy rabbits, etc., making
a most attractive and unique display. Several hours might well be spent here with profit and
pleasure if we had but the time at our command.
Near by is the Wagon Annex, filled with farm vehicles of all descriptions, and on the
other side is the Brewer's building, where all the operations of manufacturing that favorite
beverage may be observed. Then on the hill to the east of us are the numerous wind-mills
for pumping water and performing other duties, and down below them, nearer the Belmont
Ravine, we come to the butter- and cheese-factory, where we find ourselves among churns of
all kinds, the industrious exhibitors actively engaged in transforming cream into butter, or
pretending to do so, the same butter probably doing service for several weeks, each one trying
to convince you that his churn is the best, and that if you propose starting a large dairy, it is
the only one you should purchase. In another room are cheese-presses, and in yet another,
long rows of cheeses drying and seasoning to be ready for the market. Cheese-making in the
United States has become a very large and growing business, all of the more celebrated Euro-
pean varieties being successfully imitated, and we are surprised to learn of the great quantities
annually exported to Great Britain and the West Indies.
Farther on is the Tea and Coffee Press Building, where are exhibited all the different
sorts of apparatus as used in our large hotels for making tea and coffee, and where one may
step in with his pocket-lunch, and sitting down at a small table, or .standing by the counter,
order a nice hot cup of coffee or tea to take with it; or if he wishes a more extensive repast,
he can step into the two-story car of the single-rail elevated railway near by, and in an instant,
almost, be transferred over the ravine, through the tops of the trees, to the other side, where
the German Restaurant will provide all he can possibly desire.
clxvi
HISTORY OF THE
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clxvii
Another day we determine to visit the various State and National Buildings, or such of
them as we have not already seen, and after entering the grounds, we pass up Belmont Avenue
to its farther end, beyond the Government Building, and turn into what is called State Avenue.
Just at its entrance is located the Centennial Fire Patrol, where fire-engines are kept in con-
stant readiness for any necessity, the splendid horses harnessed and the attendants on hand, to
move at a moment's notice, forming a model exhibit of the Fire Service as now employed in
all of our great cities. Next in order on our right is the Ohio Building, a substantial cottage-
like edifice, constructed of Ohio. sandstone, and showing samples from the various quarries in
the State, of this well-known material. The roof with its alternate squares of tin, painted in
colors of marked contrasting shades, produces rather a curious effect, not to be conmiended.
Adjoining this building is that of Indiana, which evidently was never favored with the services
of an architect in the preparation of its design, the sky-line of the gable front being beyond
all criticism in ugliness. Then next is Illinois, a plain, neat, frame building, of Gothic outlines,
painted white and having an open portico around it, a fair specimen of a comfortable residence
in a Western village, but nothing more. Wisconsin follows, also a simple structure, not pretty,
merely useful, succeeded by the Michigan Building, quite handsome in contrast with the
others, having porches and balconies, and ornamented with scroll-work. For fear of exhibiting
too much good taste in the same neighborhood. New Hampshire steps in next, with a frame
structure of what might be designated the "no-style" order of architecture — certainly never
intended as an example for the improvement of our people in sesthetics. We proceed on to
Connecticut, which presents a good, substantial, rural-like building, somewhat after the old
Colonial style, having the motto "Qui Transtulit Sustinet" over the entrance-porch; and see
beyond it, Massachusetts, with an edifice of considerably greater pretensions than most of the
others, designed in good taste, commodious and well built. Then comes little Delaware with
a small sea-shore cottage, and Maryland, her sister State, adjoins on the other side with a neat
and unassuming structure. Next is Tennessee, followed by Iowa and Missouri — all small
buildings of no special attraction.
We wander in and out of these various houses, more for the purpose of saying that we
have seen them than from any particular interest that the mass of them incite. A few contain
very interesting exhibits of local productions from the States they represent, but generally
they appear to serve merely as a rendezvous or headquarters for the people of the State, books
being kept in a conspicuous position for the registering of names and for reference. Many
curious incidents are told of old-time friends and relations meeting at the Exhibition who had
not seen or heard of each other for years, each one supposed by the other to have departed
this life long, long ago. The State buildings have contributed not a little towards this bringing
together of those originally from the same section of country. The last building in this row
is Rhode Island. Here we have the work of an architect without doubt — a little gem in its
way, about twenty by forty feet area, with an addition to the rear, and an open porch in front.
The construction is in solid timber, the frame-work showing on the outside, and the roof is of
slate. The architects have done themselves credit. Across the avenue from Rhode Island is
Mississippi, a pretty, rustic structure, built of native wood still covered with bark, the whole
decorated with the hanging moss so profuse in the Southern States, and producing quite a
clxviii
HISTORY OF THE
picturesque effect. Retracing our steps, we first refresh ourselves at the Hungarian Wine
Pavihon, and passing a restaurant nearly opposite the Missouri Building, soon reach the Cali-
fornia Building, a heavy structure of no beauty, containing in the interior, however, some
interesting exhibits. Still farther back, opposite to Delaware, is the New York Building,
designed in the Italian style, with porticoes and a sloping roof with gablets, the whole sur-
mounted by a sort of tower or cupola, and reminding one forcibly of the frame residences so
much in vogue several years ago in the neighborhood of the Empire City.
Turning down an avenue to our right, and passing in front of the New York Building, we
see, a little beyond, something that strikes the eye at once — a group of three structures in that
picturesque, half-timbered, sixteenth-century style of Old ICngland, so expressive of the home-
Vitw of the Intcrtiational Exhibition from George s Hill.
liness of the English character, that we know at once they can be no other than the buildings
of the British Commission. The principal one, covering an area of almost five thousand
square feet, is called St. George's House; the others are the Barrack's and Workmen's Quar-
ters. The architect of these buildings was Mr. Thomas Harris, of London. The walls are
of half-timber work, with lath and rough-cast plaster between, the base being a plinth of red
brick, coped with stone. Lofty chimney-stacks, also of red brick, well grouped together, tower
above the roofs, which are covered with red plain tiles, tile-ridging, hips, and finials, sent from
England for the purpose by Messrs. Eastwood & Co. The windows are glazed in lead
quarries, the opening casements being of wrought iron. A kettle-drum is being given this
afternoon by the British Commissioners, and we will avail ourselves of a polite invitation to
visit the interior. The walls of the various apartments are hung with exquisite designs of
English papers, provided with paneled dados, and the wood-work is stained dark and var-
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clxix
nislied. In the hall and verandas are Minton encaustic tiles, and on the floors of various
rooms are rich, illuminated Indian carpets, subdued in style, however, to correspond with the
"lovely" furniture which so enchants everyone. Beautiful ornamental vases, elegant table-
plate, etc., from Elkington, of London, and damascened works of art, adorn the rooms, while
English water-color paintings and well-selected engravings are on the walls. Open grates,
with mantles of artistic tile-patterns, are in every room, enhancing the domestic and home-like
a.spect— just such a house, we say, as one would like in the country, with the addition of a
few more porticoes to suit our climate. The artistic manner in which the house is fitted up,
calling forth the admiration of all who see it, is due, we are informed, to the excellent taste
of Mr. Henry Cooper, who came specially from London to attend to it, and whose praise is in
every mouth. After passing from room to room, conversing with our friends and partaking
of the hospitalities of the occasion, we bid adieu and pass on our way.
In the rear of the Barracks is the Japanese Dwelling, that curious structure erected by
those peculiar workmen whose methods of work were to us so novel. It is related that during
its construction, one of our own people loaned to the Japanese some wheel-barrows for the
purpose of removing the earth from the foundations. They tried them for a while, but finding
difficulty in wheeling them according to our custom, finally gave up the attempt and carried
them, fore and aft, like hand-barrows, to the great amusement of the bystanders. Wc notice
the odd-looking tiled roof, the entrance-door with its gabled projection, the arrangement of
the walls of the building so that they may be opened and closed laterally by sliding panels,
giving an airy house in fine weather, or a close one during storms, and then proceed to
examine the interior, under the guidance of one of the residents, by whom we are shown the
various rooms and also some beautiful fans, vases and other Japanese handiwork.
Across the avenue from the Japanese Dwelling are the buildings of the Spanish Govern-
ment, one of them used as headquarters for the Spanish soldiers brought to this country, and
the other containing a most interesting collection of exhibits, notably that of the Spanish War
Department, consisting of beautifully constructed models of fortresses, barracks, etc., specimens
of mountain artillery, fire-arms, models of field artillery and pontoon trains, specimens of the
celebrated Toledo sword-blades, etc. An exceedingly large proportion of the exhibit is on
the subject of education, and although Spain is far behind most other countries in this respect,
yet she shows a most commendable desire for advancement. Here are seen specimens of
pupils' work, desks and other school-furniture, text-books, scientific and philosophical instru-
ments, engineering and architectural models, maps, also decorations, mosaic, inlaid work, a fine
collection of woods, and many other things worthy of close study. Near by, West Virginia
is represented by a very neat building, two stories in height, which, in addition to being the
headquarters for the State Commissioners and visitors, contains quite a large exhibit of
minerals, coals, ores, agricultural products, etc. The next building is that of y\rkansas, an
appropriate octagonal structure of timber and glass, designed as an exhibition building, and
containing a large display of the agricultural and mineral productions of the State. Just east
of Arkansas, and close to the narrow-gauge railway, is an edifice that appears modeled after
an old Grecian temple, but which upon close examination proves to be the Canadian Log-
House, erected by the Canadian Commission, and constituting an exhibit of the timber of that
clxx
HISTORY OF THE
country. The heavy vertical logs distributed symmetrically, and supporting the roof of the
portico around the structure, strongly resemble Doric columns, while the arrangement of
planking, boards and lath, and the construction of the roof with its cupola or ventilator, all
^^'^'Vv,
United States Government Pavilion.
c^^V^,^^
show a considerable amount of ingenuity and taste. Close by, at the junction of Fountain
Avenue with the Avenue of the Republic, is the fountain erected by contributions from the
numerous societies of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America. It consists of a
circular platform, from which four arms project out at right angles with each other, each arm
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
terminating in a smaller circular platform. In the centre is a mass of rock-work of marble,
sixteen feet in height, crowned by a statue of Moses smiting the rock. From this the water
descends out of numerous fissures into a basin forty feet in diameter. On each of the four
smaller circular platforms is a drinking-fountain twelve feet in height, surmounted by a statue,
the four statues being Father Mathew, Charles Carroll, Archbishop John Carroll, and Commo-
dore John Barry. The work is as yet only partially completed.
The day is drawing to a close, and we descend the massive flight of steps from the
Fountain Plateau to the Avenue of the Republic, stopping a moment, as we pass out, to
glance at the Vermont Building, a small plain structure, and to obtain a cup of warm coffee at
the Turkish Cafe adjacent, an ornamental octagonal building with a heavy projecting roof, and
painted in an attractive oriental style. Taking a seat at a small marble table, we are handed a
beverage that might be considered enjoyable perhaps to one accustomed to Turkish manners
and customs, but to our own taste proves anything but agreeable. At the Jerusalem and
Bethlehem Bazaars near by, we find for sale a great variety of trinkets, rosaries, etc., and
articles made from olive wood, all of which arc evidently genuine, although this cannot be
said for the wares sold at man}' of the other booths. Wandering on towards the exit-gates,
wc pass the Pennsylvania State Building facing the lake, quite a pretentious Gothic structure
of two stories, with tower, and containing the usual reception-rooms and offices observed in
all of these State buildings.
There is still a portion of the grounds that we have not seen, and taking another day for
this purpose, we pass out to the western end of Machinery Hall, first entering a building
erected by an enterprising manufacturing firm for the exhibition of stoves, ranges, heaters, etc.
Another, near by, is used by an opposition firm for the same purpose, and a little to the west
of this is a small building painted in divers colors, like JosephLs coat, which proves to be a
patent paint exhibit. Still farther on is the Saw-Mill Annex to the Machineiy Hall, a substan-
tial, open, shed-like structure, covering an area of two hundred and seventy-six by eighty feet,
and containing a large and interesting display of steam saw-machines, gang-saws, etc., prin-
cipally for wood, but including also several very excellent stone-cutting machines, where the
practical use of the black diamond is fully exemplified. A boiler-house close by supplies all
the steam required for running the machinery of this building. Crossing the narrow-gauge
railway we come to a large glass-ware exhibit, in a one-story frame building, in which the
process of the manufacture of various articles in glass is shown on quite an extensive scale.
The house is always crowded with curious visitors, making it difficult for us to observe the
work as closely as we would like, but it is marvelous to see with what dexterity the material
is fashioned into articles of ornament and utility. Purchasing a tiny glass slipper as a
souvenir, we move on, glancing at a saw-mill near by, and then following the line of the
narrow-gauge railroad past its engine-house, until we reach an exhibit of the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company, consisting of a section of railroad double track, laid in complete shape,
with ballast, ties, steel rails, etc., according to the standard rules and regulations of that Com-
pany. Just across the narrow-gauge road this same Company exhibits an interesting relic in
the shape of an old locomotive, the "John Bull," and an attendant train of cars. The engine
was constructed by Messrs. George and Robert Stephenson, at Ncwcastlc-upon-Tyne, England,
clxxii
HISTORY OF THE
in 1831, for the Camden and Aniboy Railroad Company, and had its first pubUc trial near
Bordentovvn, on November 12th of the same year. In 1833 it was put into active service,
continuing in use until 1866. The train consists of two odd-looking passenger-cars, being
of the identical ones formerly drawn by the "John Bull," and built about the year 1850, the
whole train presenting quite an old-time appearance. The engine and cars were lately repaired
and put into working condition, and were actually run from the shops of the Company, near
Jersey City, to the Exhibition grounds, as we now see them, making the journey of nearly
ninety miles at an average rate of two minutes and thirty-five seconds per mile.
In this same locality is a building containing a complete working model ilUistrating the
r.jiiiMiffi'
Sew \ork StUe Fu-uilio
Krohnke Silver Reduction Process as used in Chili for the reduction of the rich ores of the
sulphurets and antimoniates of silver. This model, which is kept in operation as continuously
as practicable, is made to one-sixth full size, and was originally constructed for the Valparaiso
Exhibition, where it was shown last year. The process of working is divided into three parts
or sections, each having a separate building. The first comprises the crushing-machinery, by
which the ore is broken up and pulverized. It is passed through a double set of crushing-
rolls and then into pulverizing-mills, from which it is carried off by a constant stream of water
into settling-pits. From these it is shoveled out and thoroughly dried, when it is ready for
chemical treatment, amalgamation, etc., which takes place in the next building. The retorting
and smelting are carried on in the third building — the silver mass, after the mercury is vola-
tilized, being melted down and cast into bricks. The model is exceedingly complete, and
makes a very interesting exhibit to the metallurgist, the process being one of great thorough-
ness, not leaving behind, it is said, over one ounce of silver per ton of ore treated, and
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clxxiii
sometimes giving even higher resuks than shown by assay. On account of the great cost
of the plant, however, compared with capacity of working, this does not appear to be an
available method except for very rich ores.
North of this exhibit, near Machinery Hall, is a structure containing a display of the
various printing-presses manufactured by the Campbell Press Company, of Brookl}'n, N. Y.,
together with specimens of type-printing, it is stated, from the date of the invention, and a
complete printing-office, modeled after those of 1776, in actual operation.
Returning towards the rear of Machinery Hall, we pass some gas-machines of various
kinds and iron pipe exhibits, look for a moment at some hoisting machinery, then at pneumatic
tubes, busy transmitting messages from one end to the other, and stop to examine a gun-
powder pile-driver, near by, in active operation. Entering a building containing a large exhibit
of special iron-castings, lamp-posts, hydrants, stop-valves, etc., not, however, of any special
interest, we soon move on, entering and passing through Annex No. 3 of Machinery Hall, into
an area devoted to machinery for brick-making, rock-drilling, artesian-well boring, etc., and in
which, next to Machinery Hall, is located a building of the State of Nevada, containing a
quartz-mill in full working, separating gold from the rock, according to the most approved
method. Having satisfied our curiosity on all of these exhibits, we go on through Anne.x
No. 2 and through the Hydraulic Annex, past the various boiler-houses, to the Shoe and
Leather Building, a neat structure of about one hundred and sixty feet in width by three
hundred and fourteen feet in length, devoted to exhibits of all kinds connected with leather
and its manufacture into the numerous articles of the trade. We are struck, on entering, with
the tasteful interior decoration of the roof in red, white and blue bunting, and the exhibits
prove of considerably more interest than we had expected they would be. Near to the rear
entrance-door is a heavy tanned hide, which we find to be that of the great elephant
"Empress," which died a short time since at the Zoological Gardens. The material is of
great use for polishing purposes. We see here excellent trunks, fine harness and saddles, all
sorts of saddlers' furnishing goods, boots and shoes, including some exceedingly curious and
handsome varieties from Russia, India-rubber and other fabrics, all kinds of leather, morocco
and sheepskin, and a large amount of leather and shoe machinery. It is wonderful how far
machinery has been applied to the making of boots and shoes, so reducing their cost, and
giving to New England the supremacy of the world in that manufacture. Here is a machine
for sewing soles to boots and shoes, that will sew nine hundred pairs per day. It is almost
impossible to believe it, and yet it is said on good authority that thirty-five million pairs are
annually sewed on these machines in the United States. Near by is a riveting-machine, which
will rivet on three hundred pairs of soles per day, and around us are numerous machines for
trimming, heel-burnishing, pegging, etc. We are lost in wonder. Truly, Yankee invention is
equal to everything.
We make our exit by the eastern door of the building, and passing through the exhibit
of the New England Granite Compan}', consisting of various specimens of stone, monuments,
etc., out in the open air, we find ourselves back again at the plaza of the Bartholdi I*"ouiitain,
whence we started many days ago to explore the E.xhibition. We ha\'e now been over the
whole ground. We are through— we have seen everything. Have we ? We hear some one
clxxiv
HISTORY OF THE
say, Yes. No ! we reply, we have not. We might take you again and again, on this pleasure-
trip, through the various buildings, out on the avenues, down in the ravines and into the shady
nooks, and you will find many new things, many exhibits, that must have been there before,
and yet which you passed over and either did not see or have forgotten. It would take the
full six months of the Exhibition, and perhaps more, to see all thoroughly. The body tires,
the feet wear out, but the enjoyment of the eyes — never! We are different beings now from
what we were before we came here. We ha\'e ad\'anced in our ideas fift)- years. We go
Aew Hampshire and Connecticut State Pavilions.
home with new inspirations and with enlarged capacities, ready to do our share in the advance-
ment of our country in the Arts and Manufactures during the new century that has just
dawned for it.
While all these happy days are passing, one department connected with the Exhibition
has been hard at work, that of the Judges, flitting from one building to another, studying this
exhibit and that one, making comparisons, testing and experimenting, so as to be fully pre-
pared to give fair and impartial reports. Their work having been accomplished, the evening
of September 27th is set apart by the Centennial Commission for the announcement of the
awards. The ceremony takes place in Judges' Hall, in the presence of a brilliant audience of
invited guests. On the stage are the distinguished officers of the Centennial Commission, the
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clxxv
Board of Finance, the Board of Judges, the various Foreign Commissioners, and many others.
The exercises are opened with prayer, and after an appropriate anthem is rendered by the
Temple Quartette, of Boston, Hon. D. J. Morrell, Chairman of the Executive Committee of
tlie Commission, gives an address. Tiie orchestra then strikes up a medley of national airs,
and the Director-General follows with some remarks in reference to the Exhibition, its appro-
priateness, the benefits that will result from it, the profound impression produced by the high
standing and qualifications of the gentlemen connected with the various Commissions, their
close attention to their duties, and the great degree in which the Exhibition is indebted to
them for its success. He also refers to the eminent body of men, both foreign and American,
selected as Judges, the delicate and difficult task they were called upon to perform, and the
good will, earnestness and zeal with which they accepted the charge and carried out their
work. After another interlude of vocal music by the Temple Quartette, the President of the
Centennial Commission moved forward to the front of the stand and explained the system of
awards, the departure made from that usual at previous exhibitions, and the advantages
derived from the change. He dwelt upon the obligations due to the tens of thousands of
exhibitors, many of whom, not only from the United States, but also from other countries,
were here to testify their good will in this our fraternal year ; also on the man)- purely govern-
mental exhibits, and the friendly interest shown by many sovereigns, tending to perpetuate
international friendship ; and in conclusion he stated that the awards would be announced to
the several countries in alphabetical order, giving no precedence to one over the other, and
that if any were warmer friends than others, he trusted they were those with whom we had
sometimes quarreled. He then called forward in alphabetical order the Chief Commissioners
of the various governments, and delivered to them copies of the awards made to the exhibitors
from their several countries. As the list of nations was called, beginning with the Argentine
Confederation, and as the representative of each, respectively, stepped forward to receive the
roll containing the list of names for his country, he was received with enthusiastic applause.
This portion of the exercises took considerable time, after which the evening closed with music.
The total number of exhibitors amounted to twenty-six thousand nine hundred and
eighty-six, of which eight thousand five hundred and twenty-five were from the United States.
There were thirteen thousand one hundred and forty-eight medals awarded, being a little over
forty-eight per cent, of the number of exhibitors, and five thousand one hundred and tliirty-
four of these awards were to this country.
Let us take a glance at some of the results which may be deduced from the Exhibition,
more particularly in reference to our own country, its capabilities and development. First, in
reference to that great industry, the Iron Manufacture. The exhibit of minerals is very large,
and one fact is brought forth above all others, in that the United States give evidence of the
possession of great mineral wealth. The Smithsonian Institute is represented bj- a magnificent
collection; very many of the States have on exhibition the natural productions of their respec-
tive territories, well selected and arranged, and individual manufacturers also furnish numerous
specimens, immense coal exhibits show the presence of the required fuel to reduce these
ores, and the displa}'- of finished iron and steel gives proof of the complete ability and metal-
lurgical knowledge possessed by those connected with the manfacture, and necessary for the
:lxxvi
HISTORY OF THE
production of the best results. The large dimensions and thorough finish of the manufac-
tured articles are evidence of the strength and perfection of the machinery as well as the skill
of the men employed in their production. Immense iron-ore deposits exist all over the
country. The amount of ore smelted in the year 1875 was about four million three hundred
and seventy thousand tons, of which about one million tons came from Lake Superior, three
hundred and fifty thousand from Lake Champlain, about one hundred and fifty thousand from
the great Cornwall ore banks of Pennsylvania, and four hundred thousand tons from little
New Jersey. Iron Mountain, in Missouri, gave two hundred
and fifty thousand tons. In 1875 there were seven hundred
and thirteen blast-furnaces, with a joint capacity of about
fi\e million four hundred and forty thousand tons, and the
puddling -furnaces were four thousand four hundred and
seventy-four in number, the total capacity of the works for
production of rails and other wrought iron being about four
million one hundred and ninety thousand tons. American iron manufacture has kept pace
with the age, and the works appear to be fully up to those of Europe as to the latest and best
details of manufacture, in fact even serving as examples for the instruction of metallurgists
from abroad, nearly all of whom have evinced the deepest interest in them, and have
expressed the greatest surprise at the freedom with which information has been given and
access allowed to what in Europe would be considered important trade secrets. Some pro-
cesses were quite novel to them, and among these may be particularly mentioned that of
cold-rolling, or passing a bar of iron a number of times through rolls when cold, and reducing
it about si.x per cent, in its section, thereby materially increasing its tenacity and hardness,
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. . clxxvii
giving it a highly finished surface, and adapting it directly for shafting, piston-rods, etc., with-
out further manipulation.
Many fine exhibits are made of American steel, the various processes of blister and
puddled, crucible, Siemens-Martin, and Bessemer manufacture being fully represented, and the
qualities of metal produced by the different methods will bear comparison with any in the
world. The Siemens-Martin method is in very successful use, having an annual production
of some forty-five thousand tons. The Bessemer process is shown to be fully up to that of
England in its details of operation. Indeed it even surpasses it in perfection of machinery for
handling the material. The capacity of tlie various works is about five hundred thousand tons
annually, principally iron rails, and greater than that demanded by the railroads of the country.
In the figures we have given on iron and steel, we do not mean to infer that the annual pro-
duction is up to the full capacity of the various works, as it is not, but only that the works
have a capability equal to that amount. The perfection to which the Bessemer steel works of
the United States have arrived is due to the fact that the Government afforded a heavy pro-
tective tariff on steel rails just when it was most needed. At the time Bessemer works were
first commenced in this country, steel rails were selling at one hundred and fifty dollars per
ton, but when these works had gone into operation, the price fell to a hundred and twenty
dollars, and now, to-day, the manufacturers are able to furnish rails at forty-five dollars per
ton. This shows the value of a protective tariff and the good results coming from it when
properly applied. Had there been no duty on steel rails, the works never could have been
started, England never would have reduced her prices, and we would have been paying to-day
very nearly what we did ten years ago. Perfection in machinery for these works, owing to
American invention, has contributed not a little to these results, in enabling our manufactu-
rers to turn out a greater number of casts per day than at any other works in the world.
In regard to the exhibits of iron from foreign countries, Sweden is especially conspicuous
for the number and exceedingly high standard of her specimens, and their excellent arrange-
ment. Sweden has long been noted for her close dependence upon scientific knowledge m
reference to the proper manipulation of iron, and it may be said that to her is due the success
of the Bessemer process, an invention which, on first application in Great Britain to the less
pure form of pig-iron, was a failure, and it was only when Swedish experts showed its practi-
cability, and Mushet suggested Spiegel-eisen as a corrective to the impurities in the iron, that
the difficulties experienced were overcome. We must not omit to mention, in this connection,
the fine display made by Prussia of this Spiegel-eisen, so essential in the Bessemer manufac-
ture, one of the few materials of which we are as yet so deficient, only a little coming from
New Jersey and Connecticut, and almost all that is used has to be imported.
No one, unless particularly informed on the subject, would have supposed that the United
States could make much display at the Exhibition in "Ceramic and Glass Wares," and would
have been much surprised to learn that out of five hundred and ninety-two exhibitors, one
hundred and ninety-nine were from this country. Such, however, is the case, and the display
is an important one, not only on account of its extent, but also from the fact of its showing
the existence of an abundance of excellent natural material, and the requisite mdustrial
skill to manipulate it. The resulting wares are here in direct competition with those of the
HISTORY Of THE
same kind from Great Britain and other European countries, and they challenge comparison
without fear. Taking into consideration the vast extent of the general display, including por-
celain of all kinds, hard and soft, biscuit, Parian, stone-ware, glazed and unglazed ; stone china,
"granite" ware and the softer cream-colored wares, faience, majolica and Palissy wares, terra-
cotta, tiles, etc., our own exhibits, while more of the practical and useful kind, are really very
satisfactory. The industry has developed in this country with most wonderful rapidity,
reflecting great credit on the ability and energy of those who have taken hold of it, most of
them without previous training or knowledge, and in the face of innumerable difficulties.
The Art Gallery.
Heavy and coarse wares were manufactured in the United States as far back as the middle
of the last century, and more than one hundred years ago porcelain works existed for a short
time in Philadelphia. During the war of i8i2, numerous potteries were started, but ceased
to exist under foreign competition after peace was restored. A determined effort was made
again in 1830 in reference to this industry, by establishing a porcelain manufactory in Phila-
delphia, but it closed in a few years, involving the founders in considerable loss. After this
time a number of potteries for coarser wares, gray and yellow stone, sprung up, and they have
been generally successful. About the year 1854, however, the subject of the manufacture of
a higher grade of wares, such as the English "white granite," was taken up at Trenton, New
Jersey, and after long labor, many efforts, and much loss, the industry was established on a
I NTERX ATIO NAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
firm footing in 1866, resulting in a commercial success about 1870. Other manufactories have
developed in various parts of the country from this, and there are now works situated in
Chicago and Philadelphia, at Greenpoint, New York, where porcelain as well as earthenware
is made, and in Ohio,— Trenton, however, being the chief point of production, and rapidly
becoming, as it were, the Staffordshire of America. The wares exhibited are of most excel-
lent body and glaze, entirely free from iron spots or other impurities, showing a high quality
of material and a great perfection attained in what may be said to be almost a new body in
pottery wares. The glazes are of good medium hardness, well incorporated with the body,
and have, it is claimed, little tendency to crackle — far less than foreign wares. They receive
colors well, and although the decorations as a general rule are deficient in originality, and
often copies of foreign designs, it is to be hoped that the results of the E.xhibition and the
efforts of our Art-schools will make a great change for the better in this respect.
In reference to wares from abroad, Great Britain comes first in importance, displaying a
large range of manufacture, from objects of the finest texture down to cheap household goods.
The porcelain, having a body compromised between hard paste, like that of Dresden, and soft,
like old Sevres, is compact, homogeneous and translucent, and the glaze hard and brilliant.
Most excellent table-, dessert- and tea-services are shown, and large collections of decorative
objects of exceedingly artistic design and execution. One variety, called " Ivory" porcelain, is
very elegant, having a soft rich surface and most agreeable tone of color, some .specimens
being delicately perforated, showing great skill in manufacture. A large and interesting
exhibit is made of ornamental .stone-ware, showing its application to architectural decoration,
a new and most successful use for this material. The specimens of stone-ware for sanitary
and chemical purposes are very fine, and among these may be mentioned a sewer-pipe fifty-
four inches in diameter, and a stone-ware jar of six hundred and twenty gallons capacity.
The terra-cotta exhibit is very large, the most important object being the colossal group of
"America," in Memorial Hall, reproduced from one of the corner groups of the Albert
memorial in Hyde Park. A pulpit of combined red terra-cotta and stone-ware produces a
very striking effect, as also a large wall fountain and a font. One should notice in these the
elaborately wrought out relief-work, scarcely ever attempted so successfully. Terra-cotta is
now being quite effectively employed in architectural works for decorative purposes, not only
in Europe, but in the United States, and a large field is opened for its use. A Chicago firm
has developed the manufacture in this country to a high degree. The display of English floor
and wall tiles is very fine, most of the large manufacturers being well represented.
France has a large and interesting exhibit of porcelain and other ceramic wares, Palissy,
majolica and decorative faience, and one will never forget the exquisite terra-cotta statuettes
of M. Eugene Blot & Son, illustrating fishing-life at Boulogne, so full of artistic expression,
and having such force and freedom of touch. In the Memorial Hall are some very large
and elaborate vases from the National Manufactory at Sevres, all fine examples of that kind
of work. Among the other European exhibitors, Sweden is worthy of particular mention
for an excellent display of porcelain and pottery of various kinds, .showing evidence of
energy, enterprise and skill fully adequate to make her independent of other nations in this
industry.
clxxx
HISTORY OF THE
Of course the exhibit of porcelain and pottery from Japan is far beyond that of any other
nation in importance, not only in the extent of its collection and its varied character, but in
its general high standard of excellence and in the great superiority of its individual specimens.
Taking into account the nature of the material, many of the pieces shown are really colossal
in size, and not only are many curious objects of early date exhibited, but also imitations or
reproductions of the ancient wares on a large scale, and so accurately as to defy detection.
Vases are shown six and eight feet in height, perfectly potted, and fine examples of effective
decoration. Large flat slabs of decorated porcelain are exhibited, one nearly six feet in
diameter, finished and glazed on both sides, and showing no marks of points of support in the
TTie Japanae Pavilion.
oven, being most remarkable pieces of work. It has been stated by one fully capable of
giving a reliable opinion, that the Japanese display surpasses anything that has ever been
shown by a single country at any previous International Exhibition.
Concerning the exhibit of glass, that from the United States is large and important,
including almost all descriptions of ware, and it is evident that before many years America
will successfully compete in all branches of this industry with the countries of the world.
In the exhibition of "Chemical Products," the display is very large, showing great excel-
lence, particularly in the collections of pharmaceutical chemicals displayed by American firms,
Philadelphia, especially, having been long celebrated for her chemical manufactures. Impor-
tant exhibits are made from our own country, as well as England and Germany, in mineral-oil
products and those of alkali manufacture.
In textile fabrics, the manufacturers of the United States show very decidedly the vast
progress they have made in the various branches of this industry, and give striking proof of
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clxxxi
their ability to cope with foreign competition in these goods. The exhibits of cotton, linen
and other fabrics from abroad arc not nearly so extensive as might have been expected. The
collection from France is very scanty. Some goods of excellent quality are shown from
Wiirtemburg and Elberfeld in Germany, and Hanover furnishes a most artistic display of
cotton velvets and velveteens, resembling silk in appearance, and particularly noticeable for
their texture and finish, and for the variety and blending of the colors. An admirable and
unsurpassed display of woolen tweeds and cassimeres, heavy cheviots, flannels, woolen
blankets, heavy sheetings, etc., comes from Canada, and Ireland takes the lead in linen fabrics,
although the goods sent from Dresden and other noted European localities are of exceedingly
high class and fully up to their well-deserved reputation. The exhibit of oil-cloths and other
enameled tissues is exceptionally fine, and the display of American exhibitors unrivaled,
nothing contributed by foreign exhibitors being equal to it. The raw cottons are almost all
American, although some excellent specimens come from Brazil, and small samples from very
many other localities.
The United States has a very large and most important exhibit of wool and silk fabrics,
outrivaling that made by the cotton manufacturers, and the industry as far back as 1870
involved a capital of about one hundred million of dollars, and nearly three thousand estab-
lishments. The display of Great Britain is very fine, notwithstanding that some of the most
enterprising English firms are not represented.
In carpets our own country makes a very large display of all the leading varieties, the
specimens being well made and containing a good combination of colors, arranged with taste.
Too many of the designs are copies of foreign goods, although some are original, but it is
hoped that this defect will be remedied in time, and that the manufacturers will see the policy
of employing competent designers of their own. Our carpet industry is becoming very
rapidly a most important one, entering into competition most successfully with foreign impor-
tations, and it deserves every encouragement. Great Britain makes a very choice display of
carpets, also France and Belgium, — the tapestry carpets of the latter being of most admirable
design and color.
In jewelry, watches and silver-ware the United States makes a most excellent exhibit,
and in reference to watches, has caused great consternation among the Swiss manufacturers,
owing to the superior facilities which this country shows she possesses for their manufacture,
and the very high standard which she has attained in their quality.
In paper, stationery, printing and book-making, the majority of the exhibits are from the
United States. The great natural facilities for paper-making possessed by the country, and the
ingenious adaptations of machinery to the processes — no hand-paper being now made — have
added very much to the development of the industry. A very large variet\' of printing-presses
are shown, from the old original press of Franklin, down to the large and powerful machines
of the present day, — the English Walter press, and the American Bullock, Hoe, and Campbell
machines.
Hardware forms a most prominent display, and the exhibits for building and household
use from the United States are remarkable for variety, beauty of design and artistic finish,
surpassing all those from foreign countries in these points. Locks have formed an American
clxxxii
HISTORY OF THE
specialty since the day of the Exhibition of 1 851, when Hobbs picked the famous Bramah
Lock, and the number and variety that are now manufactured may be called legion. The
combination- and time-locks for safes seem to be very much admired by our cousins from
abroad. In edge-tools more than half the exhibitors are from this country, and the quality
of the material is without any superior. Every one knows the world-wide reputation of the
American axe, and the enormous demand for it in foreign countries. All hand-tools for car-
penters' use show marked improvements, due to the inventive genius of the Yankee. In
agricultural and laborers' tools, very marked advances have been made in the United States,
United S/afcs Government Building.
they being much more solidly and permanently constructed, while at the same time possessing
greatly increased lightness and a freedom of working that is very desirable. Exhibitors in
cutlery from this country make a most extensive and handsome display, showing great
improvement both in the style and quality of their goods. There are exceptionally fine
exhibits from Great Britain, Germany and Russia, and it seems to be generally admitted that
while America holds the first place in table cutlery, tools, and fire- and burglar-proof safes.
Great Britain has the pre-eminence in pocket and fine cutlery.
In railway plant, rolling stock, engines, etc., the number of foreign e.xhibits is very
limited, although most of those displayed possess peculiar merit. Thus we notice important
switch-locking and signaling systems from Great Britain, tires and a.xles from Sweden, etc.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. clxxxiii
As would naturally be expected, however, the mass of the exhibits in this department comes
from America. We have the permanent way of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the rolling-stock
of the Pullman Palace Car Company, the Miller platform and coupling, the various styles of
springs, a most prominent series of car-wheel exhibits, the Westinghouse, Smith's and Hen-
derson's car-brakes, etc. There is a large exhibit of American locomotives, but only one from
abroad, a narrow-gauge Swedish engine. To foreigners, our railway exhibits have been most
interesting, presenting the peculiar features of a system different in many respects from any-
thing in their own countries.
The United States is largely represented in hydraulic motors, transmitters and pneumatic
apparatus. There is an extensive exhibit of Turbines, generally of excellent design and
workmanship, and although mostly constructed in the usual form, in some cases presenting
features of novelty. The collection of shafting and belting is specially prominent, and the
cold-rolled shafting of Messrs. Jones and Laughlin, of Pittsburgh, is particularly noticeable.
A very large exhibit is made of pumps of the various classes, and the admirable arrangement
of the Hydraulic Section of Machinery Hall enables them to be shown to the utmost
advantage.
The display of machinery is greatly in excess of anything at previous exhibitions, and
the United States is far ahead of any other country. Those best qualified to judge state that
it is really a most remarkable exhibit, full of new ideas, refined in mechanism, and most
encouraging for the future. The display of machine tools, especially, has never been equaled,
either in number, quality or adaptability, and is full of novelty and progress. Great Britain
shows a magnificent exhibit of steam hammers and some textile machinery from Leeds, but
otherwise is exceedingly meagre. Canada, for a young country, makes an excellent exhibit.
The display from France, although small, is very fine, the wood machinery of Arbey, of Paris,
being specially worthy of attention. As we have devoted a large space in our "Mechanical
and Scientific" department, to this branch of the Exhibition, we cannot do more than refer
to it here.
A very large exhibit is made in sewing, knitting and embroidering machines, clothes-
making machinery, etc., sewing-machines of course taking the first position, both in number
and importance, all, or nearly all, coming from the United States. America has always occu-
pied a very prominent position in sewing-machines at previous exhibitions, and it was only to
be expected that she would in this instance make a display surpassing anything that has ever
been seen before. That she has done this, every one will admit. The competition between
rival firms is very great; new improvements are constantly being made, and each manufacturer
endeavors in every way possible to keep a front position with the public. All sorts of
machines are exhibited. There are the family machines, those for cloth, shoes, and even for
boots, harness, saddles, etc., all doing most wonderful work ; and to choose a machine, or to
decide which is the best or most worthy of award, must be the most bewildering work that
ever mortal man was entrusted with. Some of the knitting-machines are very curious, and a
very novel apparatus is exhibited for darning stockings.
In electric and telegraphic apparatus some notable exhibits are made. Gray's, Edison's
and Bell's Telephones maybe mentioned among others as having a most brilliant future before
HISTORY OF THE
them. The end to which they may develop, and the immense value they may prove to the
world, no one knows.
The civil engineering exhibit from the United States is a very important one, although
many most extensive and interesting works are not represented. Many e.xhibits are under the
charge of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a number of engineering works
being prosecuted by the Government are represented by models in the United States Building,
such as the Hell-Gate improvement in New York Harbor, the construction of breakwaters in
the great lakes, models of light-houses, etc. France and Holland both make exceedingly fine
displays of their Public Works.
In agricultural machinery the exhibits are confined, with a few unimportant exceptions, to
the United States and Canada. Implements of tillage and planting, machines for thrashing,
winnowing, corn-husking, and shelling, portable and stationary engines, grinding-mills, dairy
fittings and appliances, etc. etc., are displayed in great profusion, showing a high degree of
perfection attained by American manufacturers in this department, and attracting the attention
of the agricultural world. The E.xhibition will undoubtedly open a large foreign market for
our people in this industry, particularly in South America and Australia.
Exterior to the regular E.xhibition grounds, but under the same management, inter-
national live-stock exhibitions of great interest have been held, a large area having been
enclosed and arranged with the -necessary sheds, etc. Dogs, horses, cattle, sheep, and swine
have had their turn in rotation, a few days being given to each, and to those particularly
interested in live stock, the displays have proved quite an attraction.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
clxx.xv
At length the time of the Exhibition draws to a close. On the evening of the 9th of
November the Centennial Commission gives a farewell dinner to the various Foreign Commis-
sioners and other distinguished guests, making a company of about two hundred and fifty.
The morning of the lOth dawns, and is announced by thirteen guns from George's Hill and
from the steamer " Plymouth" in the harbor, simultaneously. Regret is felt by all, and yet it
is not unmixed with a sensation of relief at the thought of coming rest — of a return to the
quiet life of former times. But Philadelphia never will fall back to quite the old-fashioned
routine. She has been thoroughly awakened and enlarged in her ideas, and will undoubtedly
remain more cosmopolitan. The day sympathizes with the feelings of the people, and a slow
and steady November rain pours down from the clouds, rendering utterly useless the exten-
sive preparations that have been made in the open air for the closing ceremonies. There is no
diminution in the number of visitors to the buildings — the records giving nearly one hundred
and twenty-two thousand on that day — but the vast rows of temporary seats, one above the
other, at the west end of the Main Building, facing the Bartholdi Fountain, look cheerless and
deserted. The ceremonies must take place in the Judge's Hall, a very small building for that
purpose, and to reduce the number of invited guests, admission is refused to ladies' tickets.
Some few of the more adventurous, however, pass the guards, one lady claiming the right
as a descendant of one of the signers, another as having had an ancestor on board the " Bon
Homme Richard," etc. etc. On a platform at the upper end of the hall are the President of
the United States, his Cabinet, the various Foreign Legations, the Centennial Commission and
Board of Finance, etc. — the Philadelphia City Troop acting as Guard of Honor, an office they
have always performed for every President of the United States when a guest of Philadelphia,
since the time that they formed the Body- Guard to General Washington in the Revolu-
tionary War.
The final ceremonies open with Wagner's Inauguration March, recalling vividly the scene
of six months before ; then a prayer, and after that a choral and fugue of Bach's. Addresses
follow from the Chairman of the Executive Committee, from the President of the Centennial
Board of Finance, the Director-General, and the President of the Centennial Commission, the
intervals between each being occupied with musical selections by the orchestra and chorus.
Next comes the hymn, "America" —
' My country, 'tis of thee.
Sweet land of liberty.
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died.
Land of the pilgrims' pride.
From every mountain-side
Let freedom ring !
'Our fathers' God, to Thee,
Author of liberty.
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might.
Great God, our King" —
during the singing of which, the original flag of the American Union, first displayed by Com-
modore Paul Jones on the "Bon Homme Richard," is unfurled and saluted by forty-seven
guns, one for each State and Territory of the nation. The President of the United States now
performs the last act of the drama, by declaring "the International Exhibition of 1876 closed,"
and at the same moment, by a touch of his hand on a telegraphic signal, the great Corliss
clxxxvi
HIS TOR V OF THE
engine — that pulse which has been the hfe of Machinery Hall for six months— is stopped, never
to resume its work there again ; and the audience rise up, and uniting with the grand orchestra
and chorus, break forth in the Doxology— "Old Hundred" —
" Be Thou, O God, exalted high !
And as Thy glory filU the sky.
So let it be on earth displayed.
Till Thou art here as there obeyed" —
the chimes on Machiner>- Hall at the same time ringing out their last peal in honor of the
Exhibition of 1876.
No such exhibition has ever been held before, either as to extent, number of admissions
or receipts. From the lOth of May to the lOth of November, inclusive, there was a grand
total of 9,910,966 visitors, of whom 8,004,274 paid admission fees, amounting to 53,813,724.49,
1,815,617 were connected with the Exhibition, and 91,075 had com[)limentary tickets. After
the closing day, up to December' 16th, there were 213,744 visitors, of whom 43,327 paid
admissions amounting to §19,912 ; 168,900 were connected with the Exhibition, and 1517 had
complimentary' tickets. The total admissions, therefore, from the lOth of May to the 16th of
December amounted to 10,164,489, for which the total receipts were §3,833,636.49. The
largest number of visitors occurred on Pennsylvania Day, September 28th, being 274,919, and
the smallest number on the 12th of May, being 12,720. There were nearly two hundred
buildings on the grounds, and the narrow-gauge passenger- railway carried 3.812.794
passengers.
I'u-w in the Book DepartineiU. Main Building.
Fine Art
International Exhibition
EDWARD STRAHAN.
Enttrtd. aetording to Act of CffHpress. >« the year iSjS, h GEBBIE &■ BARRIE,
in the O^ee of the Librarian of Congress, at H'ashington.
The International Exhibition, 1876.
)HE1 people of the nineteenth century find themselves inheritors
of the great classical revival of the beginning of that century.
An American, West ; a Frenchman, David ; and a German,
Mengs, led the aesthetic taste of the civilized world in 1800.
Every art-school, as has been well observed, starts from a
pagan revival or renaissance. There is, as it were, a fund of
the vital principle in Greek sculpture and Roman mural painting and Attic
vase-painting which immediately goes to work and fortifies a fresh school of
plastic, just so soon as any accident brings the work of the ancients promi-
nently before people's attention. At different times the resuscitation of Greek
specimens creates the career of Nicolo in Pisa, of Leonardo in Milan, of
Michael Angelo in the Medici gardens, of Raphael when he enfranchises him-
self from Perugia, of Poussin on leaving France, of Albert Diirer on reaching
Venice, of Velasquez in Spain, of Rubens in Antwerp, as well as of our triad
of painters, Mengs, West and David. David, then, in France, and West, in
England, were restoring classical art with all their force at the beginning of
this country's career.
But what is art? A convenient definition, one which Taine the critic is
fond of using, we owe to one who never meddled with paints or marble, who
was not, correctly speaking, either a painter or a sculptor, yet who helped on
the cause of art in his day with an energy of practice and a blaze of enthu-
siasm which has rarely been equaled before or since. This was Benvenuto
Cellini, the immortal jeweler of the sixteenth century; and he says in effect that
FINE ART. 5
the aim of art is "to produce a representation of a beautiful human figure,
with correctness of design and in a graceful attitude." If we can approve this
definition, and keep it in mind, it will greatly simplify our estimate of the men
and works we shall have to examine during our excursion in the paths ot
modern art. It is a definition that would have been approved, without much
modification, by both the able artists who started our century for us. David
found the French captivated by the shepherdess-pictures of Boucher and Fra-
gonard. He found them insisting that art was clouds, art was gauze, art was
roses, art was hearts and darts, art was Cupids and nymphs disporting in the
sky, art was idiots in white satin who pretended they were herdsmen, art was
amorous ladies and sexless creatures in silken breeches vacantly giggling in
flowery gardens, art was the beauties of the Pare avx Ccrfs, the ephemeral
etchings of Madame de Pompadour, the sweet, liquid Elysium of Watteau.
David met this warm, steamy, enervated tide of feeling, and said coldly, ''Ari
is the representation of beautiful human figures, ivith correctness of design and
in noble attitudes;" and by uttering this theory with perseverance and distinct-
ness he completely stifled a whole national school of painting and sculpture, set
in motion an influence that is perfectly distinct in his country to this day, and
spliced again a cord that was being frittered and fretted away by the French
of his time — the cord, I wolald say, that united the art of France with the great
classical line of art ; for the fine arts, if we take this direction of them and
consider it the central direction, stretch back in one unbroken thread through
Italy and antiquity. There is not the slightest break — from David to his master,
Vien, who expressed some recognition of classical correctness at a time when
the shepherdesses were all in favor, and antique art was a bore, who spent
much of his time in Rome, and who was beggared by the Revolution — from
Vien to Poussin, who tried his best to make an Italian of himself, and was glad
to clean the brushes of Domenichino — from him to the grand masters, Raphael,
Leonardo, Angelo, who indeed married Clerical Art (the art of the churches)
with their left hands, but gave their right hands and their whole hearts to the
pagan renaissance of their day, and whose schoolmasters were the Greek statues
which the spade then turned out hour by hour in the teeming soil of Italy —
from Italy to Italy's political captive and intellectual conqueror, Greece, and
from Greece to her mysterious old oracle, Egypt. There is not the slightest
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
logical hiatus from Egypt four tliousand years ago to David in 1800, and from
David to Ingres and Gerome, if we take this clear definition of classical art,
that it is " fhc I'eprcscntaiioii 0/ bamtifnl liuman figures with correctness of design
and in noble atti-
tudes T
If we take any
other definition we
shall find the thread
very short. If we
say it is Christian
asceticism, we shall
indeed see it most
profoundly express-
ed by Dijrer and
Fra Angelico, but it
is doomed to come
to a sudden end
when the hot vital
flame of the pagan
renaissance touches
the thread. If we
call it mere com [po-
sition and light-and-
shade — picturesque-
ncss, in fact — it
shows what won-
ders it can do un-
der Rembrandt, but
is unable to assert
itself in any long
Aurora: J. A. Bjilly. Sc.
coherence or his-
tory; if we call it
landscape sentiment,
we find it goes back
but a little way,
and under Hobbema
and Ruisdall soon
drowns itself in a
Dutch canal ; if we
call it still-life, it
reaches its highest
development among
the Dutch flower-
painters, and buries
, itself, as Edmond
About says, in a Rot-
terdam tulip. These
specialties make
very large claims
now-a-days, and
have influential
schools — flower-
painting and " still-
life," among the
vase - painters and
panel-decorators ! —
" picturesqueness, "
among the etchers and workers on the illustrated press ! — Christian acerbity,
among the pre-Raphaelites ! — and landscape, among the hosts of practitioners.
To talk to any of these specialists, alone by himself you would fancy there
was no other kind of art. But the art of tradition and history is the art which
FINE ART. . 7
Cellini loved with all his passion and all his turbulence ; and this is the art of
'' represc7iti}ig a bedutifid hiiniaii Jigure with con'cchiess of design and in a
graceful attilude."
Under this tradition, beautified from old Greece and ennobled from Egypt,
Art has completely filled the south of Europe with a bland, lambent, civilizing
wave of feeling. Classical art, coming from Egypt and Etruria, invaded Italy
with a hundred thousand marble statues ; dived under the soil, and reappeared
in Raphael ; spread eastward to Venice, to revel in the luxury there ; took a
northward turn, and inspired Correggio in Parma and Rubens in Flanders ;
and so, modified according to race and clime, visited the grave hidalgos, and
overshadowed the easels of Murillo and Velasquez ; came finally to France, and
found a witty nation industriously worshipping artificial flowers. Here, in the
person of David, it struck down frivolity as with an arm of marble, and pre-
pared the foundations of the greatest school of art at present existing. Thus
is art homogeneous and continuous in the south of Europe.
All the while there was, lying in the cold water, and separated from the
European continent by an apparatus of chopping, perpendicular waves which
the best sailors have not often been able to regard without nausea — an island,
which it is impossible for us to regard with indifference, because it is our
parent. This island was called Albion, Angle-land or England. It had always
given the Continent a great deal of trouble. Caesar went over and made it
partly an Italian island ; Saint Austin went over and made it partly a Christian
island ; William of Normandy went over and made it partly a French island ;
none of which reforms are to our purpose until Benjamin West in 1763 put
on his broadbrim and went over and helped to make it an island of painters.
The history of England, in relation to European civilization, has been most
singular. Although insulated by the sea, England has never been willing to
remain detached from the great mental movements of Christendom. Full of
originality and the instinct to e.xpress herself, she mingled forcibly with all the
politics of the Continent ; she visited and colonized savage shores in every part
of the globe, until to-day, bursting out of Britain to stretch herself over India,
she is, as Disraeli says, an oriental rather than a European power. The moment
printing was invented she took her place at the head of modern letters ; but
in Art her development was extremely fitful and peculiar.
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Let us not for an instant surmise that the Saxon or Gothic mind is inca-
pable of art ; the cathedrals of Germany and England show a race artistically
equal — at the time when cathedrals were the expression of art — with the Latin
race. But England, at the great revival of oil-painting, was found in a very
strange attitude. Conscious of noble deeds and personal worth, fond of visiting
but remote from visitors, she needed above all things the portrait-painter. For
y. »'. Chainfmy. Pin
liigen Cr Snyder, Eng.
a long time, instead of forming her own celebrators, advertisers, commemora-
tors — whatever we choose to call them — she summoned them from the ends
of the earth. Zucchero was sent for from Italy to paint Queen Elizabeth, as
Holbein had been sent for from Augsburg to paint Henry VlII ; Vandyck was
tempted from Antwerp to paint Cliarles I, as Lely was, from the virtues and
the sugar-cured hams of Westphalia, to [oaint Nelly Gwyn. At the close of
the last century, however, one great native name in portraiture had risen into
FINE ART.
full renown : Reynolds had represented with superb talent the heroes of the
Augustan age, and he was an Englishman. Unsurpassable in portrait, Reynolds
was a tyro in all else ; if he tried an ideal scene, it would be good in so far
as it depended upon the attributes of portraiture, and entirely wanting in force
lO THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
for its other attributes. Beside him and his rival in portraiture, Gainsborough,
and the splendid satirist, Hogarth, the artists of the country were hardly noticed;
there was nobody fit to assert seriously and effectively the principles of classical
art, and there never had been — nobody able to paint the grand English battles,
nobody capable of placing a Christian lesson in fresco, with any beauty, in the
domes of the churches. Dazzled by the splendor of Reynolds's genius, and
drilled by the influence of all the English tradition, which had been pouring
imported portraitists into the land for full three hundred years — '' Portraiture ^
said the people, "is Art, and Art is Portraiture." "Not quite so," said West,
in effect, as he stepped quietly upon the scene : ''Art is the representation of
human beauty, idcallv perfect in design, (graceful and noble in attitude."
That was what West had to say; that was the eternal burden of his
preaching. He was a man of influence and success in his day, and England
would have done well if she could have carried out her academic education on
his line. Not a great man, nor a perfectly successful follower of Beauty, he
was eminently sane and sensible. He invented the camera obscura ; he had the
pleasure of making Reynolds wince, by venturing to paint "The Death of
Wolfe" with the innovation of modern uniforms, instead of Roman garments.
His whole course of work was a standing rebuke to the undisciplined fancies
of FusEi.i. As for portraiture, he cheapened that by painting very poor like-
nesses himself. It is safe to say that he gave the nation more ideas in the
way of balanced composition, elegance, sound training, and conception of the
great thoughts of the renaissance, than she had had up to his time. Under his
presidency the Academy was a safe school for the study of human beauty, of
accomplished design and of grace in attitude. Unfortunately, however, what he
could teach and what he knew was not quite represented in what he wrought.
His works are left ; his teaching is forgotten. His influence was a strong one
for half a century; but the English nation could not long rest in the spirit of
his teachings, and the school of West, after correcting Fuseli, extinguishing
Barry, and giving a fair start to Allston and Trumbull, fell into utter despair,
and blew out its brains in Haydon. English art took up the anecdotic vein of
Hogarth, which was followed with ability by Wilkie and Mulready. Its land-
scape school, invented by Wilson, became accomplished in Constable, incom-
mensurable in Turner. On the death lately of Maclise — a rather weak,
FINE ART. II
distorted reflection of Paul Delaroche — tlie last classic tradition seemed to die
out. The prominent men of the moment, like Hunt and Millais, are experi-
menters, cJicrchcurs. Except Leighton, there is scarce any one capable of
putting up a correct frescoed figure in an archway of the Kensington Museum.
The development of the nation, taking another of its strange caprices, has gone
over to industrial art. There is not an Englishman now living whose endeavor
could be said to be, in Cellini's sense, to represent a beautifiCl human figure,
with correctness of design and in a graceful attitude.
That was the way in which our century of art was started for us in the
two foremost countries of the world. West and David, in their day, met on
equal terms, and West received an ovation in the Louvre. Both are bywords
of a slight contempt in the mouths of unthinking persons now, but not in
those of considerate men. They found it their business to take their two
nations by the shoulders, break off old habits suddenly, and set them in the
eternal way of art, the one way that has produced great works in time gone
by — the study of beautiful human form, correct design, graceful composition.
They wished to knit the career of their countries to the great fabric of art
which has come unbroken from antiquity. The corresponding influence was
exerted at the same time on Germany by Raphael Mengs, who walked with
all the accuracy at his command in the footsteps of Raphael Sanzio. He
painted with the search for classic beauty, and he founded the Dresden Gallery
of antique statuary. That was the spirit of iSoo — a revival of classicism.
West's light went out completely in England and this country ; but in France,
the torch brandished by David was never quite suffered to drop to the ground.
His principles are assiduously practised at this moment ; and France, let us
confess, is the first art-producing country to-day.
It has taken some little time thus to set up these two worthies firmly on
their legs. But it seemed worth while to do so, because a period has now
supervened when painters trade on very limited specialties, making reputations
out of some small attainment that would only be a fraction of the discipline
of a thorough-going classic artist. But, as we have just said, the traditions of
David still form an equipment for various painters of reputation in the country
he adorned. It must not be supposed, however, that David was quite alone.
There is a whole group of artists belonging to the epoch of the French Revo-
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
lution, whose works compare together with a certain harmony. There was
Gerard, whose "Cupid and Psyche" is a painting that suggests some pure, cold
group of ancient sculpture ; there was Prudhon, whose faces caught the subtle,
penetrating smile so often represented in the works of Correggio. Of Prud-
hon's women, a critic has said, they are grisettes, of the Restoration period,
but designed by a painter of Athens ; and there was Girodet, a ripe and
classic draftsman, but afflicted in his coloring with a tinge of green ; of whose
famous Bible scene delineating the Flood, Thackeray remarks that it is a
venerable man in a green Deluge, clinging to a green tree in a green old age.
FINE ART.
'3
The way in which David's time connects with our own time may be quite
simply explained. Only lately, in 1867, died the most faithful of his pupils, the
great painter Ingres. We know of no specimen of Ingres in this country
14 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
except lithographic studies of his figures ; but who that has seen it can forget
his dignified "Apotheosis of Homer," painted for a ceiHng in the Louvre, but
replaced by a copy on account of its singular value. In this great compo-
sition, amidst Homer and his fellow-bards, sit two woman-forms, supposed to
represent the Iliad and the Odyssey. The sacred anger of the warlike Iliad,
the deep fatigue of the travel-tossed Odyssey, are something memorable ; they
look like grand primitive nymphs, conceived in the same spirit that designed
the vast Fates of the Parthenon. These two female forms, in their austerity
and uncontaminated beauty, remind us strongly of Dclaroches woman-spirits,
depicted in the central part of his principal work, "The Hemicycle." The
figures by Delaroche we refer to are those intended for Greece, Rome and
Fame. In Delaroche we have nearly the same largeness of style as in Ingres —
Titan women, each filled and inspired with a single idea. We look at the
women of Ingres — such as we have named and such as his exquisite Fountain
(or La Source) — at the women of Delaroche, finding in them a something that
is not of our time, a something learned from the plain, grand Past, and we say.
For this thank master David. Observe, there is a certain advance in these
figures beyond the loftiest thoughts ever reached by David; but the direction
is the same ; it is not that a disciple is never to get beyond his teacher.
David, in all he did, kept much of the rigidity, the uncomfortable determination
never to be caught napping, which always marks the schoolmaster. But shall
not the pupil, crowned with honor and sympathy, keep up a veneration for the
wise and cautious old pedagogue ?
We will just mention some others in whom we believe the school of David
to be kept up or produced. Delaroche — his works, his Death of Elizabeth, his
Execution of Jane Gray, his Princes in the Tower, his Hemicycle, are quite
familiar from engravings — kept the accent of David quite as plainly as he did
that of his master, Gros. The clean drawing of David has cast an influence
on the Hebe, the Beatrice and the Marguerite of Ary Scheffer; it has not
been for nothing in the elegant work of Gleyre — you remember his pictures,
the Separation of the Apostles, the Pompeian girls washing an infant, and resem-
bling ivory statuettes, in the gallery of Mr. Johnston, of New York ; and above
all, his masterpiece, one of the loveliest dreams ever fastened upon canvas, the
scene where an old poet sits alone on the shore, while past him floats a boat
H
r
:i1ionalKxhibnionie76
1R.0&ER ARM AMGEMCAc
(;F.T^!3TF, .VTIARRIK
FINE ART.
IS
in which all the muses are singing. It lingers in the highly-finished work of
Leopold Robert, whose fame rests chiefly on his Fishermen of the Adriatic
and the other pendants of that fine group of three pictures, where the life of
modern Italy is treated with the balanced harmony of antique bas-reliefs. It is
shown most clearly in the classic work of Gerome and all his school — he and
they the most legitirpate descendants of David ; yes, in the noble and sculp-
tural composition of the Death of drsar; in the Gladiators hailing Vitellins in
the Amphitheatre, in the Alcibiades, the King Candaiiles, and all that line of
paindngs of the most eminent living classicist, a clear ray of illumination from
the age of the renaissance is visible. Another painter, who has not forgocten
this academic influence, though he takes vast liberties in making use of it, is
Couture. His masterpiece, the Decadence of the Roman Empire, is a vast colora-
tion of Veronese-gray, spotted here and there with rich blots of brilliancy, like
ribbons on a plain dress. The figures are life-size, and subjected, without
slavish fidelity, to the rules of classic design. Another classicist, of singular
chaste elegance, is Flandrin. His frescoes in the old church of Saint Germain-
des-Pres are masterpieces of thoughtful simplicity, while he is most analytical
in portraiture, and his likeness of Napoleon III makes the emperor look like
the very serpent of wisdom. Cabanel is a classicist in about the same degree
as Couture, though in a different way. His feeling of grace is very exquisite,
to an almost effeminate degree ; his conception of Venus is tender as a rose-
leaf, soft as marrow, without any notion of the dignity of a Queen of Love.
His Florenthie Poet, Nymph and Fann, and Aglaia are exquisitely beautiful.
Baudry is a painter almost the equal of Cabanel ; his Fortune and the Infant,
at the Luxembourg, is a luscious piece of flesh-modeling ; and his interior deco-
rations of the new opera-house are exceedingly choice. Bouguereau and Merle
are pseudo-classic in taste, exhibiting to the full that preponderadng search for
elegant form which shows that the classic graft has taken firmly, and altered
the nature of the sap in the whole tree. Their style, shows, too, that waxy
smoothness adopted by the prize scholars who have been sent to Rome, in
imitation of Raphael and of Angelo. When such scholars return to Paris they
are called Italians, and wear their nickname often for ever. Their pictures, if
they go on showing the recollection of the antique rather than a feeling for
modern life, are called academic studies, or academies, whatever they may rep-
i6 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
resent. Hebert, with his lovely, consumptive Italian girls, devoured by the
malaria; and Bonnat, with his healthy, rich transcripts of peasant life in Italy,
are a pair of admirable painters, whose works, however, can seldom be found
in this country. And so the influence of the antique dies gradually away, over
a line of artists of great personal force and originality, like the great Decamps,
or like Jules Breton, who paints the poetry of pastoral life so tenderly, Or like
Millet, who paints its grime, its cark and care. In these painters there is but
a faint reflection of the Greek, or of the dictum of Benvenuto.
The reader may have been surprised at our tracing a resemblance to David
in Ar)' Scheffer, in Cabanel ; but these resemblances seem like identity itself
Blanche Nevin, Sc.
when we think of the contrasts offered by the I'ebcls to his school. Think of
Delacroix, with his turbulent riot of color and form. It is the property of an
academy, we may say, to succeed not only by its successes but by the reac-
tions against it. Victor Hugo would not have been so great a dramatist but
for the protest he felt against the classic stage. So Delacroix was forced by
classicism into his full power and glory of counteraction. The classical painters
indeed seem to stand together in a mass, when we compare them with Dela-
croix, or with CouRBET, who paints with massive, vulgar strength the life of the
senses; or with Manet, who was told in despair by his master, Gleyre, "Ki^m
TC'/// be the Michael Angela of bad art!" or with the landscape specialists, like
Rousseau, Dupre, Pasini, and Belly ; or with the incident-painters, the reporters
FINE ART.
17
iS THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
or journalists of the brush, who have painted on every battle-field, from Vernet
in Africa to Yvon in the Crimea.
ViBERT and Zamacois are anecdotic or incident painters of another sort,
the latter now deceased, all too early. His dwarfs and courtiers and monks,
his matchless Education of a Prince, show how his thoughts and genius survive
him, still lively and alert. The last great promise to go out in death was
Regnault, who seemed to have the world of art at his feet. As Zamacois
came from Spain to fight the Prussians, so did Regnault participate in the
glory and sadness of the war. In the last sortie from Paris, when the order
was given to fall back, his undaunted spirit caused him reluctantly to obey,
and linger for "one shot more," which cost him his life, and us the young and
talented artist.
Tennyson lately, in dedicating to the Queen his completed collection of
"Idylls," took occasion to speak of "art with poisoned honey stolen from
France," an allusion which it would be hard for him to justify, because very
litde of the French art-method, whether it be poisonous or not, has ever got
into England in any way. But the laureate has an old grudge against the
French nation, which he cannot allude to without the least kittle delicate aqui-
line curl of a sensitive nose ; and perhaps, after all, he was not speaking of
the fine arts, to which he seems never to have paid any axtention, but of
dramas or romances. We are about to leave art in France, at any rate,
whether dangerous or not, and sny a few words about a new art-development
which is attracting attention under the name of the Roman school. It must
be called the Roman school because the practitioners are Spaniards. The
geographical name is a poor one at any rate, and we had better allude to the
school as the members themselves designate it, as the school of the spot — the
spot or blot, or, in the French language, the tachc.
It is to be observed that one great and unexpected benefit of the French
Academy has accrued in the education it lias given to other nations. Paris
has been of late years filled with strangers of every race, who have brought
into the atelier some of their nadonal artistic habits, and have looked at the
model in a different way from the way of the French. Thus does a great
academy receive the benefit of new suggesdons in return for the roudne benefit
she confers.
FINE ART.
19
Among- these foreign students were Hollanders, recollectino- the secret of
the old Holland school, which sees nature in a succession of taches, which
reckons the tree standing against the sky, the herd moving in the lush pasture,
the distant windmill printed against the vapors of a watery climate, not as so
many rotundities, but as blots against the groundwork ; that, in fact, is the true
impression made upon the optical sense, rather than the impression of relief or
modeling, which is the result of experience and calculation. The Holland
painters, in their masterly simplicity, often had the courage to paint nature
precisely as they found it printed on the eye, as a composition of color-patches.
Something of this kind had been going on in the history of Spanish art. Cer-
tain masters of Spain, by the exclusive study of "values," had arrived at a
method of translating all the flash of open-air color upon the canvas. Values,
you know, are the degrees and reliefs which one tint makes against another
or against a deeper or lighter shade of itself. The Spaniard Zurbaran's paintino-
is "melted," as the critics express it, "in a certain interior flame;" and Goya's
shadows are broad blotted suffusions. Now, a classical painter, like Poussin,
looking at a group or at any kind of scene, pays special attention to the sweep
and meaning of the boundary-lines dividing the objects. To dwell upon this
and refine upon it, as the classicists do, is almost inevitably to forget the
pursuit of values, the relief of shade upon shade. The new school trains the
eye differendy. Look, now, upon the scene as a simple mosaic of spots ; get
the exact tone, the precise degree of light or dark, the actual way in which
one color relieves against or reflects from another ; make yourself thoroughly
impartial ; a lady's face is before you : think of it as if it were a figure in a
kaleidoscope, but study the shapes made by the high-lights against the planes
of the features, and the precise boundary and tone of the shadow. A child
is playing in a garden ; study him as if he were a bouquet of roses, but place
him in his exact relations of tone with the shrubbery and the sky. By watching
in this spirit, you surprise nature at her secret tricks ; you find how she gives
emphasis to a tint by an extremely subtile contrast, by saving herself up for
the point of greatest brilliancy and purest delivery of the color ; you notice
how objects placed together reflect mutually a thousand audacious hues. Now
paint these things as a study of tints, and as a study of light and shade, getting
each hue into place in its proper situation, size and outline, hardly knowing
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8j6.
whether you are painting a lady or a camel. You must not set down the tints
you see in the open air, neither; they will not produce the effect of nature
so. Painting is not materializing colors : it is translation ; chiaroscuro is not
matching values : it is translating them. To succeed in all this, you will have
your hands pretty full ; and you will have been a pretty good draftsman if,
while attending almost entirely to your patches, you have produced a figure
The Reproof.
that will pass muster in drawing. If you succeed, you have turned out a study
a la tache. Now, Rembrandt could make a figure look bright by manipulating
his shadows into that tremendous depth he uses. Boldini will make a figure
look bright when relieved against a brilliant light-blue sky, and without putting
a speck of black in his picture. Boldini, by-the-by, is driven to strange expe-
dients in translating (that is the word, not rendering) the reliefs of nature. In
FINE ART.
an example of Mr. Cutting's, the lady's satin dresses are set upon a local back-
ground as opaque and inky as the inkiest shadows sometimes employed by the
Hungarian painter Munkacsy. Painting "by the spots" need not be done in
splendid colors either. The photograph is one of the best proficients of the
22 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
whole school, and the photograph works in monochrome. Nothing can exceed
the calmness with which the photographs will blend and lose outline in the
abandoned pursuit of values. Set photography to copying a number of persons
scattered over a hill, getting berries or nuts. You probably cannot tell whether
the objects in the picture are people or rocks, or incidents of the ground;
but the values are relatively right ; trust the camera for that. Photography
has in this way been a foster-father to the school, and given it many a hint.
Some of the practitioners are by no means colorists. Madrazo paints under
a veil, sometimes, of light blue or purple ; perhaps he has been fond of
watching the broadened, "unified" values in 7}ioonlight. Now when to pro-
ficiency in translating the spots, you intend to add proficiency in expression
and character, a sense of beauty, and the plastic feeling for elegant form, you
had better prepare yourself by being a great man beforehand. You must drazo
so easily and well that you scarcely think of it as you carelessly sketch with
your felicitously-chosen colors ; you must color so naturally and easily and
happily that you know just what two colors to blend for your tint, and what
the proportion, by a second nature. Of course, if you are working to get the
richness and directness of nature's colors, you never mix more than two paints
together; and you cannot go over and mend and pare your outline, for mixing
the wet tints kills the color. The truth is, in practice, a good picture in this
style must be made over and over again. It is thus that Furtuny is said to
have worked ; he made a study in light and shade, or repeated studies in
color, ruthlessly sacrificing all but the ultimate picture, when the patchwork of
blots is struck on in just the right way, so as to be perfect in eolor, perfect in
values, perfect in relief, and at the same time masterly in expression and draiuing.
The utterly careless-looking sketch of Fortuny's you are looking at may have
been tried for again and again, like throwing a handfiil of darts through a
quantity of rings — only when all the rings are filled and all the darts are gone
home is the task perfect. It was such results as this that Regnault had been
studying in Fortuny's Roman studio, when he wrote, as we find it in his cor-
respondence from Rome, "Oh, Fortuny, you keep me from sleeping!" "Ah,
Fortuny, ta m'empeches de dormir!" We will quote the words of a late French
critic, in balancing the good and evil of the method in question : "These youthful
inventors work in imitation of certain Spanish masters. They sacrifice to color
FINE ART. 23
their drawing, their relief and their perspective, in hopes of preserving with
greater freshness the tint, the blot, to use the conventional expression. It would
be too foolish to argue about this determined exclusion of modeling and paint-
ing ; we will not reckon up all the qualities which make of this art something
quite differendy undertaken, and which fill it with a new order of difficulties.
It is a mania, and time will judge it, alas ! quickly enough. Speaking for our-
selves alone, we feel that we are the contemporaries, the accomplices of these
improvisations played upon the pencil ; they bring out with a few touches
certain accents of modern, contemporary life, and we cannot help finding more
or less attraction in them."
The Spanish-Roman mode of painting is an example of the kind of spurts
which take place in the career of art, whose progress advances not so much
by a uniform flowing movement as by a series of ebullitions. A young painter
has been struck by some unnoticed aspect of nature, or by an old master's
picture in a gallery ; he talks about it in his club, paints a few novel-looking
studies, excites the emulation of his friends, and behold the formation of a
fresh sect ! Thus the young Mariano Fortuny, having observed an effect of
light in a Peter De Hooge, and a dash of color in a Herrera, was equipped
for the revelation of the "splashy" school. Similarly, in England, thirty years
since, it occurred very suddenly to Gabriel Rossetti and Millais that the
masters who wrought before the time of Raphael were sincerer copyists of
nature than the great Renaissance painters, and safer examples for a tyro to
follow. They began to work according to their convictions, and formed the
school of the "pre-Raphaelites."
The term pre-Raphaelite is a misnomer (besides its awkwardness of form),
for the practitioners in question do not pretend to follow the technical methods
of the artists who preceded Raphael. They simply emulate the faithfulness
and literal fidelity of those pioneers, while they freely deal in subjects con-
nected with our own more complicated civilization. They apply the keen
literal eyesight of Perugino and Masaccio to topics which would have made
Perugino and Masaccio stare. Their peculiarity is their minute copy-work
after nature as they see it. This addiction has given some of them a curious
leaning towards the minutiae of natural objects. If Millais paints the drowning
of Ophelia, we shall find Ophelia not so much the heroine of the scene as the
24
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
foliage of Ophelia's willow. The copy-work of nature is true beauty — nature
not selected, nor cured of her irregularities and defects. Millais had rather
copy an English girl's face for an Eastern scene than imagine an Oriental
one; and this, artistically, is right enough. In his drawing of the "Pearl of
Great Price," the
good man who
sells his all for the
jewel is an Orien-
tal, but his daughter
standing by his side
is a London house-
maid. Other pre-
Raphaelites, how-
ever, are more scru-
pulous than this ;
they must not only
have a model to
copy literally, but
they will go to the
ends of the earth
to obtain the proper
one. We have had
described to us with
minute and inti-
mate good-fellow-
ship the handsome
young Jewish car-
penter of Bethle-
hem, from whom
The LUtU Samaritan.
H o 1 m a n Hunt
paints his concep-
tion of the Saviour.
This is well ; but
Mr. Hunt goes
much further: for
his picture of "The
Awakened Con-
science" he painted
his background in
a niaison damnee ;
and we grieve to
think of the incon-
venience to which
he would put him-
self if anybody
should give him an
order to paint the
casting out of Mary
Magdalen's seven
devils or the shear-
ing of Samson's
locks. There are
certain respects in
which the British
pre-Raphaelites follow their exemplars to a degree of pernicious fidelity; the
masters before Raphael never thought of imitating atmospheric effect ; it was
the Venetians, with their love of landscape backgrounds, and Rubens, with his
Flemish traditions, and Velasquez, who developed to a high degree the soft
breathable sense of air in a picture, and the film of atmospheric distance
FINE ART.
25
26 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
which we feel to stretch between ourselves and any scene we contemplate in
nature. When a lover of pictures learns to appreciate this quality in a work
of art he is always on the lookout for it, and always miserable if he misses it.
But most of the pre-Raphaelites paint away in perfect serenity without it, as
their models, Perugino and Lippi and Giotto, did in their time.
We in America have had a very imperfect opportunity to contemplate the
works of the English school. Some few years back, an importation was made
of important English oil-paintings, and many of our readers will remember
how they used to admire them arranged at the old Academy of Fine Arts on
Chestnut Street — the knightly grace of ''Prince Hal," assuming the Crown,
from the scene in Shakespeare, the minute carefulness of Holman Hunt's
scene from the "Eve of Saint Agnes," and the pathos of "Romeo and Juliet
in the Tomb," by Leighton. The attempt to open a commerce in English
pictures, in quantity, has not been attempted since. Mr. Henry Blackburn, it
is true, lately brought over a quantity of good examples of the British water-
color school ; but difficulties with the custom-house have prevented a repetition
of the experiment. The English are high appreciators and devoted buyers of
the worthier works of their own countrymen, and purchase them at rates which
exclude competition from abroad, so that British pictures are confined to Britain
with a strictness known to no other national school of art.
In noticing these successive upheavals in the geology of painting, it is
impossible to omit allusion to the Munich school. Munich is to-day the most
formidable rival of Paris as a centre of art, so far as its power to draw off
the young students of America is concerned. About half a century ago
Ludwig of Bavaria built the Glyptothek, or sculpture-museum, in the capital
of his state, and this edifice was followed by an Odeon, a Pinathokek or
picture-museum, and the Walhalla at Ratisbon. Cornelius, as Director, raised
the Academy of Arts to a pitch of great eminence, and his successor, Kaul-
bach, continued to give the city prominence as an art-source, by his very
imaginative and inventive but ill-colored works. It only remained for Piloty,
in somewhat later times, to assert his claims as a colorist, for the school to
unite every kind of importance as an educational nucleus. We shall revert
immediately to Munich art in considering the talent of its pupil Maekart. It
remains to notice, as the completion of the list of schools that have obtained
FINE ART.
special attention here of late years, the Dusseldorf school, which burst upon
America all in a mass a few years before the civil war, in the large collection
of large pictures exhibited in Broadway, New York, and is already sunk in
oblivion, — and the Belgian school, which has turned out, at its headquarters in
Brussels, works by Leys, Alfred Stevens, Gallait and Knaus, worthy to rank
with any productions of the time.
To revert to the Munich school : its most classical living practitioner is Karl
Piloty, and its most adventurous offshoot is probably John or Hans Maekart.
It is easy to recall specimens now-a-days to the recollection of almost any
wide-awake person who "lives in the world," because the subjects at least of
all good works are, by means of prints and photographs, so widely dissemi-
nated. Many readers will accordingly remember Piloty by such compositions
as his "Assassination of Caesar" and his "Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn."
His pupil, Maekart, has taken wider flights. He attacks nature on its
decorative side, and paints works whose destination, like the works of the
Venetian artists, is primarily that of making fine rooms look finer. We are
here, be it noted, at the very antipodes of the pre-Raphaelite Englishman, the
motive of whose work is to make the spectator think, to persuade him to be
indifferent to apparent ugliness, and to chain his attention to some problem
of character or intellect. The first works of Maekart's seen in this country
were a large pair called "Abundantia," representing the riches of the sea
and land respectively, brought over last winter, and exhibited for a season
in New York. For splendor of ornamental effect it is safe to say that
nothing to equal them has ever been imported to our shores. With a
dazzled pleasure that excluded minute attention, the eye grasped a cluster
of soft colossal female forms, playing with shells or fruits, displaying the
richest lustres of blonde flesh and gorgeous tissues, and revealing here and
there, by a happy ingenuity, the flash of the gold ground on which the figures
were painted. These were works of his youth, executed for the dining-hall of
a particular house, and not intended to be judged by the strictest rules of
plastic accuracy. On examination the eye could detect many a lapse ot
drawing, which seemed, however, not so much a want of ability as a condition
of voluptuous carelessness, and a desire to fasten the color and the impression
in all its freshness immediately upon the canvas. To the painter's youth
28 THE IXTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
likewise belongs his composition of "The Seven Sins." Another of his works
is "The Cleopatra," another "The Triumph of Ariadne." His "Catherine
Cornaro," of which we give, from the original in the 1876 International
Exhibition, the only cut that the public has seen, and a very good one — is
perhaps his masterpiece. It seems to be inspired by the happiest influence
from Paul Veronese, and plays the same part as one of that master's crowded
compositions in elevating the mind to a state of proud and noble happiness
by the contemplation of an ideal festival-world bathed in heaven's own silver
/« III,- /i„y of \.iph\
light. The subject is that fair Venetian who endowed Venice with the realm
of Cyprus. Catherine Cornaro, a noblewoman of Venice about the middle of
the fifteenth century, became the wife and widow of the Cyprian king, James
de Lusignan. After ruling the island as queen for a quarter of a century, she
at length conferred the island on her native country by abdication — certainly
the queenliest gift that Venice ever received. The painter in dealing with the
subject has pleased his fancy with the various sumptuous images evoked by
this passage of history^ — the singular idea of a lonely lady governing the
island consecrated to Venus from the earliest dawn of fable, and then by a
feminine caprice of abnegation giving up her state and becoming once more a
FINE ART.
29
Venetian republican. He accordingly represents her seated on a wharf, whence
steps descend into the sea, and whither the argosies of Venice direct their
sails. Maidens kneel at her feet to offer her flowers and treasure; a statesman
like a Venetian doge stands at the right hand of her throne ; her courtiers
C. W. Ahiynard, Pittx,
177b.
are women; forms of beauty surround her on every side; musicians peal out
her praises through their instruments of gold. It is the pomp and wealth of
the Renaissance in Venice. The appearance of this picture definitely secured
for Maekart the esteem of his fellow artists, and made friends of some of
his previous enemies, the critics. Among the latter, Bruno Meyer, who had
30 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
spoken very severely about some of the artist's earlier work, declared that
Paul Veronese's paintings must have looked like this when they were fresh
from the easel.
Another great pupil ot Munich and Piloty is here represented by Wagner's
"Chariot Race," a picture already somewhat familiar to the American public
by means of Moran's admirable etching of this masterpiece of modern genius.
The admirers of the spirited etching have now the pleasure of beholding the
original painting in all its beauty of color, and while dazzled with its action
and splendor, will not forget the success of the American interpreter in his
dashing engraving.
When Romulus induced the Sabine women to come to Rome, it was to
see the chariot-racing that those ladies trusted themselves in the city of the
"Sanctuary," and this, according to the legend, was the first circus, or exhibition
for horse-racing, ever held. Another legend informs us that L. Tarquinius,
about 600 B. c, commemorated his success in arms by an exhibition of races
and adiletic sports in the Murcian Valley, in which temporary platforms were
erected by individuals for personal, family or friends' use. These platforms
surrounding the course gave place, before the death of Tarquinius, to a per-
manent building with regular tiers of seats in the manner of a theatre ; to this
the name of "Circus Maximus" was subsequently given, but it was more
generally known as the Circus, because it surpassed in extent and splendor all
other similar buildings. A few masses of rubble-work in a circular form are
now shown the visitor in Rome, as all that remains of the ever-famous Circus
Maximus ; and although there were ^ considerable number of buildings of a
like nature in Rome, they are all destroyed now, with the exception of a small
one on the Via Appia, called the Circus of Caracalla, which is in a good state
of preservation.
In the chariot race, each chariot was drawn by four horses ; four, six and
sometimes eight chariots started at one time ; the charioteer, standing in the
car, had the reins passed around his back : this enabled him to throw all his
weight against the horses by leaning backward ; but this rendered his situation
dangerous in case of an upset, occasionally resulting in serious accidents or
death ; to avoid this peril, if possible, each driver carried a knile at his waist
for the purpose of cutting the reins.
LUIS MORALES. J-IKC"
H---[LLEFEF. .
. liitanulioiial "F.xhiliition, 1876
ECCE HOMOc
FINE ART. 31
The foremost driver in Wagner's picture has an air of mad hilarity and
gratification in his face, and even in his whole bearing ; and as he seems to
wish to cast his eyes to see how much ahead he is of the driver on his left,
who is imbued with carefulness and fixity of purpose, he litde recks that one
of his horses has reared in excitement, and may at any moment cause the loss
of the race and imperil the lives of all concerned.
The enthusiasm of the Romans for the races exceeded all bounds. Lists
of the horses with their names and colors, and those of the drivers, were cir-
culated, and heavy bets made. The winning drivers were liberally rewarded
with considerable sums of money, so that many of these charioteers, according
to Juvenal, were very wealthy.
In Wagner's delineation of "The Chariot Race," he has embraced as many
of the prominent features of an ancient circus as could artistically be brought
within the canvas. To the left of us are the Emperor and his household ;
opposite to this imperial group, on the low wall, may be the president, or
judge, and a number of spectators ; near the ground of this low wall there is
a grating: this undoubtedly is designed by the artist to indicate the proximity
of the officiating priests' chambers. A portion of the pillar, on which were
placed the conical balls, is behind this group, and a little further back is shown
the cylindrical goal. The immense space . between this and the Triumphal
Gateway, and the great height of the building with its myriads of people, are
not exaggerations, for according to very early writers this circus was several
times enlarged until, at the time of Julius Caesar, it was over eighteen hundred
feet long (the length of the Main Building of the Centennial Exhibition), six
hundred feet wide, and capable of containing three hundred and eighty-five
thousand spectators. A further idea of the size of the Circus Maximus is
formed by comparing it with the capacity of the Coliseum at Rome, which was
capable of holding only about eighty-seven thousand people.
The mention of Piloty as a great master of great pupils, represented in
this Exhibition, suggests another master represented by a pupil famous in the
contributions already made to art, and worthily here represented in "The
Vintage Festival," of which a very fine wood engraving furnishes a good
interpretadon on page 17 — Alma Tadema, a Dutchman by birth, and a pupil
of the late Baron Leys. His works are most agreeable and varied, and cer-
32
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, iSj6.
The Telcgyam of Lovt
tainly more suggestive and instructive tlian pictures usually seen in public
galleries, and they throw a light, evidendy the reflection of a careful student,
FINE ART.
33
Rizfah Pt-Qtectlng the Bodies of her So.
34 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8j6.
on the manners and customs whose eccentricity raised the cry of "O temporal
O mores!" from Cicero.
The painter of "The Vintage Festival," whose full name is Lourens Alma
Tadema, was born in Dronryp, in Frieshmd, and for many years resided in
Paris, receiving medals in that city and in Brussels for the uncommon merit
of his works. Since the Franco-Prussian war he has lived in London ; the
artists and art-lovers there have offered him that warm reception which their
nation has ever accorded to foreign talent naturalizing itself among them, and
which is at tliis moment enjoyed as well by Tadema's imitator, Tissot, as by
the Americans, Boughton, Hennessey, Miss Lea, and Arthur Lumley, while its
sincerity and cordiality remind us of the honorable treatment in England of
Lely. Kneller, Vandyck, Rubens, and Holbein. Mr. Tadema is one of the most
eminent living archaeological painters; his works restore the antique life of
Greece, Rome and Egypt with that fulness and accuracy of detail which his
teacher. Baron Leys, conferred on mediaeval subjects. He exhibits now at every
annual display of the Royal Academ\-, and has contributed no less than six
of his most important works to the English section of the International Exhi-
bition. They are "The Vintage Festival," which we engrave, "The Mummy,"
"Convalescence," in oil-color; and "The Picture," "The Three Friends," and
"History of an Honest Wife," in water-color — the last subject in fact being three
pictures framed together on account of the connected theme. The "Vintage"
(page 17) is of all these the most important. It represents the solemn dedi-
cation to Bacchus of the first fruits of the wine-press, selecting only the more
elevated and dignified features of the ceremony — those deeply symbolic features,
connected with the branches and fruits of the vine, the progress of the deity
as a conqueror of the East, and his descent into hell, which touched the hearts
of the early Christians, so that the Bacchic mystery was admitted as a type of
the Christian, and the daughter of the first Christian emperor was buried in a
casket enwreathed with Bacchic grapes and symbols, carved in enduring por-
phyry. In Mr. Tadema's exquisite picture we see the sacred procession winding
into a Roman temple to offer homage to the planter of the vine. A beautiful
priestess, crowned with grapes and holding a torch, advances toward the statue
of the god at the left; turning her lovely face to the procession that follows
her, she awaits the arrival of the offerings, while near the shrine some ardent
FINE ART. 35
priests, with panther-skins tied around their throats, wave the cups of Ubation
in ecstatic expectancy. Three flute-girls, with the double pipe bound to the
mouth of each, a pair of dancers with tambourines, and a procession solemnly
bearing wine-jars and grapes, advance along the platform, whose steps are seen
covered with ascending worshippers and joyous Romans as far as the eye can
reach through the colonnades of the temple. The perfect execution of a pythos
or earthen wine-tub, enwreathed with the Bacchic ivy, and planted near the
tripod in the centre of the scene, attracts attention. The grace and elegance
of the chief priestess are positively enchanting. She forms as she stands a
white statue of perfect loveliness, quite outdazzling the Bearded Indian Bacchus
whose marble purity sheds a light around the shrine. The most unexpected
success of the artist, however, is that sense of religious calm and solemn grati-
tude which he has managed to diffuse over a ceremony dedicated to such a
power as the spirit of the grape. Everything shows that the symbol as accepted
by the early Church was most prominent in his mind, and that he wished to
represent the parallelism between the True Vine and its imperfect type. The
worshippers, elated by a really religious rapture, proceed to the offering with
all the decorum of the Christian agape or love-feast, and the ornaments of the
temple — pictures and votive images — hang upon the columns precisely like the
"stations" and ex-voto offerings of a modern Roman church. The technical
qualities of the painting are admirable ; the action and character ot the figures
are completely Roman ; the texture of the different marbles is felicitously given,
and the silvery flood of light and air deluging the temple successful in the
extreme.
We would like to dwell with greater fulness on the works of this artist,
both because he reveals and teaches so much, and because a certain austerity
and simplicity in his style keep him a litde above the comprehension of the
vulgar. The limits of this work, however, have been strained to admit even
so imperfect a glimpse of his merits, and we must pass to other subjects. We
cannot quite omit mention, however, of "The Mummy," conspicuous by its
strangeness and antique truth, in which the interior of an Alexandrian palace,
filled with funereal preparations, is treated in oil with all the luminous limpidity
of water-color; nor of "The Picture," in which a Roman painter's shop is
realized for us; nor of "The History of an Honest Wife," a quaint and moving
36
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
story connected with the early Christianization of France. It is the peculiar
distinction of Mr. Tadema to turn out in every picture a composition utterly
unlike anything that has ever been painted before. The intense devotion of
his mind to archasoloirical research is rewarded by the unearthing of quantities
of truths so old that they have the air of novelty; the texture and pattern of
ancient garments, the ornaments of buildings in mixed transitional periods, the
habits of a vanished civilization, are made to flash on the eye like a revelation.
Not a shoe, not a finger-ring, but is of the epoch represented ; the monstrous
FINE ART.
37
frizzled wigs of the latter empresses, the thick plaited ones of Egyptian kings,
the tastelels cumber of Pompeian or Roman colonial architecture, are set down
38 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
remorselessly, with a love of the bizarre that sometimes verges upon carica-
ture. With all this book-learning, his style is generally direct, limpid and
transparent to a high degree ; the simple sweetness of his coloring, and the
soft tide of air that is felt to play easily through his interiors, are as perfect
as in the work of the most ignorant painter of natural appearances, who ever
confined his copy-work to his "impressions."
We have in Mr. Tadema the artist of the grand Teutonic blood conferring
his talent upon the English race ot his adoption. It is singular, ever since the
"Tedeschi" poured into Italy and revolutionized its architecture, how constandy
they have enriched the blood of other nations with their intellect and art. The
Teuton is not very flexible, but whatever he learns to do becomes a fixed fact
in the world. Not a country of Rlurope but has gained in stable progress from
the intermixture of the Gothic strain, and in .America he has come to stay, and
plants himself at every foot of our advance like a sheet-anchor. German talent
— in the person of Mr. Schwarzmann — has adorned the Centennial Park with
buildings, arbors and bridges; German talent, in the same personification, has
furnished to the group of Exhibition buildings its two finest examples — the
utterly diverse Memorial Hall, with its classic arcades, and Horticultural Hall,
with its ornate Arabian splendor. ,A German artist, Mr. Pilz, was the author
of the two statues of Pegasus, in bronze, which restively perch, with clipped
wings, in front of the Art Building, where are enshrined the treasures we have
to consider. A German artist, Mr. Mueller, prepared for the dome of the same
hall the colossal figure of "Columbia," in persistent metal, to welcome the
nations to the feast of Industry and Commerce, — the international peacemakers.
This statue, by-the-bye, although it has been sharply criticised, holds forth a
salutary meaning in the easily-read symbols of its posture : the hand, presentmg
no sword, but the peaceful bays; the bowed head of salutation and welcome;
the crown of savage feathers, adorning the forehead of a Cybele of the wil-
derness, whose diadem has not yet crystalized into towers. As we pause, before
entering, in the shadow of the shielding wing of the monumental Pegasus, we
behold the fostering fortitude of Teutonic art realizing, strengthening, solidifying,
and constructing the shelter of industry for all the world. The Memorial Hall,
before us, spreading its vistas of circular arches to right and left, is just such
a patient restoration of Roman architecture as Von Klenze might have drawn
FINE ART. 39
upon cardboard to show to his patron, Ludwig of Munich; and, crowning every
pedestal and pinnacle with art of the same national parentage, we see the
shadows of the Industries, of America, and of the gigantic mountain eagle,
throwing themselves from the parapets above to the sward beneath.
The silhouette or outline of the crest of Exhibition Palaces is a very rich
and varied one, whether seen from a nearer or a more comprehensive view.
An American artist, Mr. E. D. Lewis, has been struck with the effect they
aaake, in crowning Lansdowne Terrace, from the opposite side of the Schuyl-
kill, and has painted a beautiful, sunshiny, autumn-tinted picture of the same,
which forms one of the ornaments of the American art department. Mr. Lewis
has often been praised by Hamilton, the great landscapist, for His ability in
making a painting "look luminous." This he does by a simple system of
contrasts, without any heavy Rembrandt shadows or Carravaggio blackness.
Whatever scene his pencil touches seems to be caressed by a ray of light.
Some time since he went to Cuba, and painted "The Queen of the Antilles"
in a large brilliant composition, and the magic sunshine of the tropics seems
to have clung around his pencil ever since. Mr. Lewis, born to uncommon
privileges among the best part of the Philadelphia social melange, might have
excusably sacrificed some portion of his art-industry to the prosecution ot
drawing-room successes ; but though a genial and agreeable society-man, ready
for any parlor knight-errantry, he toils at his profession in a steady, prolific
way that no poor brush-wielder laboring for his pay can possibly surpass.
The mention of this brilliant landscapist reminds us that the United States
have long claimed to have one of the foremost among the existing schools of
landscape art — enthusiastic patriots used to say, the very foremost. Our natural
scenery is certainly the widest in range, and among the most picturesque in
detail, possessed by any country- of the globe, and should be the inspiration of
a noble style of delineation. The proud eminence awarded by native judges
to our school of scenery-painting began with Thomas Cole, whose poetical and
imaginative way of introducing allegory into landscape was much to the taste
of "fifty years syne." His pupil, Church, and the eminent Albert Bierstadt,
came next into prominence, with what began to be called the "panoramic"
school of landscape, and the public saw with amazement vast scenes on enor-
mous canvases, that seemed to compete in dimensions with the original
40
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
mountains and forests whose portraits were represented. Tliis is not the place
to speak of the wonderful works of Church — canvases so large and so minutely
finished that each may be called an accumulation of miniatures.
Mr. Bierstadt, having established his reputation by a fine study of a
church-portal, in the Dusseldorf style, called "Sunshine and Shadow," found
himself famous, and began to turn his atti-ntion to the Titanic scenery of our
; j;i JUi^fii C' Snyder. £il^.
L Africaiiu.
far West, producing several very comprehensive and very striking pictures of
the Rocky Mountains. To this class of subjects, which still forms the theme
of his warmest predilection, belongs the scene of "Western Kansas," of which
we present a careful steel engraving. It is one of the natural "parks" with
which nature has bestrewn the Arrierican Occident — scenes which, when man first
bursts upon them, amaze him by their appearance of preparation and deliberate
culture. Here is the tiny lake, with its trim island, such as kings construct
*■. Ditlilz. Pin
I and My Pif
42 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
with dainty care for the grounds of their palaces. On the Island, which is a
natural bank of flowers, spreads an umbrageous and symmetrical tree — no
spindling stem from the forest, but a well-rounded, broad, shadowy "park"
tree ; it is such a tree as Wordsworth describes in one of his prose prefaces,
which being recommended to the owner as a profitable subject to fell for
timber, the peasant replied, "Fell it! I had rather fall on my knees and worship
it." And, indeed, worship is the natural im[)ulse in the presence of one of
these gigantic overshadowers of the earth; trees, as Bryant reminds us, were
the first temples. Mr. Bierstadt's magnificent specimen makes a felicitous fore-
ground incident for him; and others, only diminished by distance, spread far
towards the horizon. The scene would be an English nobleman's game-preserve;
but, advancing ponderously from the left, intrude the mammoth brutes that no
game-preserve on earth contains, except the Indian's, and stamp it as the natural
hunting-ground of the Native American. We see there the drinking-place of
the bison, and the garden ot the primitive red Adam. It is a fortunate thing
that Mr. Bierstadt was able to spare so characteristic a specimen from his
easel — though easel-pictures are hardly what this artist's gigantic works gene-
rally would be called — and that the world of strangers collected here on the
Adantic seaboard should be able to travel thus, on the magical broomstick of
one of his colossal brushes, into the heart of the Great West.
What the Centennial visitor from the ouirc-mer is first apt to see, however,
is New York harbor, not the grassy ocean of the prairie. An attractive painting
by Mr. Edward Moran, of New York, copied in the large wood-cut on page 21,
shows that superb and starry spectacle of the land-lights of America, which first
causes the immigrant's eye to dance with hope and his heart to swell with
ambition as he comes to conquer his opportunity among the free. Here is the
city spread between the mouths of the Hudson and East rivers, here is the dull
and ponderous fortification on Governor's Island, all pierced and pricked with
twinkling lights like a fairy scene in the theatre. How many sturdy men have
looked upon the inspiration of these lights with irrepressible tears! For how
many has the pause at Sandy Hook, the debarcation at Castle Garden, meant
success, opportunity, renown even, in contrast with the certain continuance of
degradation in that darker and older world! The able and successful men we
can reckon around us, the public men who have risen to command, have in a
FINE ART. 43
surprising number of instances been taken from the ranks of those strong,
muscular, serious, plain men whom we see idling around the walks of Castle
Garden in the first day of their unaccustomed liberty, waiting to " take occasion
by the hand." Such are the seed of the new earth. To-day they are of the
million^ — to-morrow of the millionaires. To-day they are nobodies, rocked over
the flashing waves of the Bay into the embrace of that twinkling crescent of
lights : soon they are individuals, entities, sovereigns, with every chance to
conquer the esteem of their kind by power, wealth, or intellect. This is the
sort of legend that seems to be whispering forth out of the rippled waves and
rolling moon of Mr. Moran's picture, a fine augury to greet the subjects of
European monarchs as they face it. The painter, a man of self-made progress
in art, belongs to a family of brothers who are all curious instances of inborn
talent and perseverance conquering a success among the American people, so
hospitable to ideas. Mr. Edward Moran and his brother Thomas have enjoyed
the advantages of an Americo-British art-education : they have profited almost
as much by the English artist Turner as by the American artist Hamilton.
Thomas Moran, — about equally known by his fine "Yellowstone" scene in the
Capitol at Washington, as by the remarkable book-illustrations which he scatters
from his home at Newark to the best magazines and art-publications of the
land — can be judged in the E.xhibition by five landscapes in widely-separated
styles. The "Dream of the Orient" plainly shows his extraordinary admiration
for Turner, of whose works he has made so many copies of the rarest fidelity;
while "The Mountain of the Holy Cross" is more in the style of his monu-
mental works at the Capitol.
Another brother, Peter Moran, is an accomplished practitioner in the more
difficult line of cattle and figure painting; while a younger one, John, is one
of the first topographical photographers in the country. By Peter Moran, the
cattle-painter aforesaid, we present on page 9 the spirited subject, "The Return
of the Herd." In a pleasant rolling country near the Brandywine or the Wissa-
hickon the herdsman and his dog are driving home the cows after the soft
afternoon storm which makes the herbage so tempting for a lingering bite.
Mr. P. Moran's cattle are always obviously studied from nature. In the present
picture, the black head of the central animal, relieved against the brightest sky
where the storm breaks away, makes fine pictorial effect for the artist; and the
44
THE INTERN ATIO X AL EXHIBITION, i8j6.
pretty play of the near cow and calf is true to life. The four brothers we
have named live in different cities, but their starting-point was Philadelphia, of
whose academic art-training they are creditable alumni.
The steel-plate engraving from the picture called "Brig hove-to for a Pilot"
can hardly be a representation of an American scene, from the presence of the
windmill on the shore — though, for that matter, there are windmills on the
FINE ART.
45
Long Island coast, and upon other exposed parts of the American seaboard.
Something in the crisp freshness of the air and light — light and air not used
by so many centuries of sea faring practice as the European — makes us
connect this picture with E. Moran's "New York Harbor," just above-men-
tioned, and assign the scene to our own shores. At any rate, it is a spirited
and telling composition — the small pilot-boat dancing on the waves to get
46 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
alongside the statelier brig, whose half-lowered sails wrinkle and flutter in the
wind, awaiting the trustworthy sailor who is to board the vessel as guide. The
swift, racing wash of the water past the group of boats, without any very
violent freshness or stormy motion, is given in a true seamanlike manner by
Mr. M. F. H. De Haas, the artist. Mr. Maurice De Haas, as well as Mr. William
F. De Haas, is a Holland painter, whose merit having attracted the attention
of Mr. Belmont, the Rothschild of America, procured an invitation to visit these
shores, and the promise of a career and a fortune. The Messrs. De Haas are
doing well, and are not likely ever to forsake the country which has given
them so pleasant a reception, and which they have beautified with so many
meritorious works of art.
Marine artists like Mr. E. Moran or Mr. M. De Haas characteristically find
their pleasure in beating about New York Harbor. Day after day, in the fine
summer weather, they may be seen standing, Columbus-like, on the prow of
some vessel (which is more likely to be a grimy steam-tug than anything hand-
somer), engaged in their own peculiar kind of exploration. Their game is
worth the chase, and the booty they collect justifies their taste. Other artists,
like Mr. Brown in the picture we engrave on page 13, choose the freezing
winter-time, and the frost-locked mimic sea of Central Park. He has given us
a careful and variously-discriminated crowd, mainly engaged in the noble old
Scotch sport of "Curling." The compatriots of Burns, among the hardest
players and hardest workers of the age, have transported the game to this
country, where it attracts every winter the delighted wonder of the ignorant
and the incapable. As the plaid-wrapped athletes send the heavy balls of
Aberdeen granite vigorously across the ice, or carefully sweep the crystal floor
to a state of frictionless purity for the ne.\t effort, or measure the distance
between a couple of stones with noisy and angerless vociferation, they are sure
to have an admiring crowd around them. The curious Yankee, not "native and
indued unto that element," pauses to watch the missiles, with a modest convic-
tion that he could improve them; the little school-girl, sledding with her
brother, glides slower past the fascinating sports of the good-natured, manly
contestants. It is a crisp, eager, jolly game, imparting to the tame picture of
the city lake a spicy flavor of wild loch-sports in North Britain. This animated
scene, crowded with small faces and figures very difficult to engrave, is one of
I
FINE ART. 47
the most elaborate attempts of Mr. Brown, whose pencil, though loving rustic
subjects, more generally seeks the softness and refinement of fair child-faces,
and the delights of lovers, whose very whispers it essays to paint.
A sport better understood here is angling — a pleasure as cosmopolitan as
its synonym, coquetry. Mr. W. M. Brackett, in a series one of whose subjects
we represent on page 12, has delineated "The Rise," "The Leap," "The Last
Struggle," and "Landed." Here is the suggestion of country streams, hissing
into foam over the shingly rock, and curling up into peaceful sleep among the
boulders of the shore. The noble captive, his silver mail availing him nothing
in this unequal warfare, writhes and twists his flexible body into a semicircle,
exposing to the air his elegant tail and his panting gills, already half-drowned
in the long race. It is the last effort for liberty; shortly will come the usual
reward of unsuccessful heroes in a lost cause — the martyr's fire, the approval
meted too late to benefit the recipient, and the apotheosis — of the supper-table.
The painter of the last-named picture, Mr. Brackett, hails from Boston, a
metropolis whose art-development has always been the pet puzzle of the painting-
world in America elsewhere. Nobody could tell who took the likenesses of
Bostonians, who painted the landscapes of their surrounding country, who com-
posed their battle-pieces, fruit-pieces, picayune-pieces, and masterpieces. A
rumor got about that the Bostonians, in the moments of leisure they secured
from the study of Emerson, dashed into the picture-shops and bought up all
the Corots and Paul Webers they could find. These names represent two
landscape-painters as opposite in style as anything that can be imagined. It
would seem impossible that one city should be generous enough to contain them
both. Corot, the Frenchman, paints vapory, dreamy, invisible landscapes, that
nobody perhaps can fully understand: by summoning up all your resolution,
coming up to a Corot very fresh, keeping the catalogue-title very distinct in
your mind, and if possible turning the picture upside-down, you think you
distinguish a tree, a fog, a boat, a pond, a bog, and a fisherman. Weber, of
Philadelphia, on the contrary, is the distinctest of painters: everything with him
is frank, fair, obvious painting, honest trees, white clouds and green weeds, in
the style of Lessing. How should the Bostonians love the one and the other?
Yet it has been generally asserted that each Bostonian had a Corot and a
Weber on the two sides of the looking-glass in his "keeping-room." The
48 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Corot was to put him into a state of trance, and the Weber to wake him to
reahties of Hfe, after an evening of Margaret Fuller and Bronson Alcott. Then
it was known that one of Couture's pupils, William M. Hunt, was established
The Farced Prayer.
in Boston as a portrait-painter, and that the Athenians there, in their ardent
way of elevating every novelty into a fresh superstition, had convinced them-
selves that there was no painter in the solar system equal to Hunt. True, he
sent to the Exposition Lhiiverscllc of 1867 a portrait of Lincoln, so vigorously
50 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
and invidiously thrown into shadow that every Frenchman beholding it came
away convinced that the martyr President was a man of color. True, too, that
though not without eccentricity, Mr. Hunt is an artist of ability. But the Bos-
tonians, epical and self-contained, rarely divulged themselves in art to the citer
world, Mr. Hunt could send his Lincoln to Paris, but he sent nothing to the
Philadelphia exhibitions, and very seldom displayed his work in New York.
Boston landscape, Boston marine, Boston figure-painting, were an Isis-mystery,
probably intensely enjoyed by the civic mind, but veiled from all the world
outside. Of late, a little corner of this Isis-curtain has been lifted. It is known
that every Bostonian lately bought, and hung up in his sanctum sanctorum, a
specimen from the auction-sale of young Mr. Longfellow's landscapes — the poet's
son. It is known that Boston has a Millet. Of course. France has a Millet
— or had — the painter of peasant-groups, so original, so racy of the soil, so
grimy, so similar to a chapter of Thoreau. England, too, has a Millais, pro-
nounced just like the French, and equally, the favorite of a certain inmost
circle of the elect. These postulates being given, it was obvious that Boston
must in the course of time, and that as soon as possible, have a Millet too.
She has got one now, and nothing remains to complete her ambition. Young
Millet is a growing sapling, as yet in the developing stage, but, without joking,
a young man of very decided promise. He sent to the National Academy
Exhibition of 1876, a portrait of a lad, very frank, boyish, direct, and painted
with engaging simplicity and robustness. We very decidedly like his gondel-
lied in colors, entitled "In the Bay of Naples," and copied by us on page 28
from the original in the Centennial show. Who that has ever taken that primi-
tive, antique sail from Naples to Capri in the old market-boat, would not warm
to the picture of it, especially when executed with such freshness and wit? It
is like a revived missing chapter from Pliny the Naturalist; behind our backs
are the phenomena of that great volcano which cost the erudite Roman his
life ; before us the two-peaked outline of Capri lifting from the blue, and around
us the peasant-life which has scarcely changed since the days of the ancients.
Four of the mariners in this picture wear the Phrygian cap that Ulysses wore.
They roll their arms and legs into the softest convolutions of the dolce far
niente. They play with the handsome Anacapri girl on the seat that eternal
game of dalliance and love which is never old. The bare-backed boys, opening
FINE ART. 51
and shutting their fingers like flashes of tawny lighting, play the immortal
game of Morra which the Hebrew slaves played beneath the pyramids. So
drifting and floating, and letting the wind take care of the dirty old sail, they
sit with their feet in a bed of fish, and execute that delicious Capri-transit —
the most luxurious bit of vagabondage, set in the loveliest scenery, that even
Italian life affords.
And now that enchanter word "Italian" — most alluring and spell-containing
adjective in the language — has got so fast hold of us that we must fain leave
the Boston corner of American art-development, which we had set about to
elucidate, and sail across forthwith to San Giorgio, at Venice. One word in
parenthesis, however, before we have utterly lost our train of thought, for
another Boston artist, the younger Champney. Two Bostonians, both Champ-
neys, enlivened the American colony in France eight years or so ago — Benjamin,
the elder, an old-fashioned landscape-painter, with a soul and heart eternally
young, and a slim youth, J. W. Champney, who in those days lived in a very
small and very lofty room in the Rue du Dauphin, and carried up his own
milk in the morning for a home-made breakfast. Those days of student-liberty
and independent fortune-fighting are over now, and as "Champ," the young
art-adventurer is famous. His illustrations to Mr. King's work on "The Great
South," and his charming Centennial American sketches in a French journal,
have won him admirers in America, England and France, and procured him
compliments in more than one language. He contributes to the Exhibition,
among other things, "Your Good Health!", engraved on page 8. It is one of
the small, single-figure subjects which Meissonier brought into vogue. A cordial
old bachelor, who has seen life, and who wears the full-bottom wig and gaiters
of the last century, is just lifting the glass filled from the tall champagne-bottle
before him ; a smile breaks on his mouth as the bead breaks on the rim.
"Champ" has caught the freshness, the urbanity, the hospitality of his type'
"and that," as Nym says, "is the humor of it." With which short digression
from the Mediterranean, made in the interest of the modern Athens, we revert
to the enchanted lands, and find ourselves basking on the sunset gold of the
Adriatic, and gazing at Gifford's " San Giorgio." This church, we may recollect,
built when Venice was attempting to reconstruct the Athenian orders of archi-
tecture with more good-will than knowledge, has been contemptuously ridiculed
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
by Ruskin, because the architect, in his intellectual vacancy, put a hole in the
pediment where Phidias would have put a grand statue. The building, in faith,
would never attract notice from its classical perfection, if left to honest com-
petition with other edifices; but in Venice its situation, with the broad mouth
FINE ART.
53
of the Giudecca to isolate it, makes it one of the most conspicuous buildings
you can see. You paddle across in a gondola to where it lies, separated from
the bulk of Venice by a breadth of rippled water, which has been reflecting
54 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
the triangular pediment of San Giorgio before your eyes ever since you dis-
embarked at tlie Hotel Danieli ; and as you unload at the flat steps of the
basilica, and proceed inside to see the famous Tintoretto, you feel that this
formal church, peaked out of the water like Teneriffe, is one of the character-
features of Venice, as ill to be spared as the nose on the face. Mr. Gifford
has chosen the sunset-view, when the water around the lonely temple shines
like chiseled gold. Has he hit the true color of sunset ? We are not sure.
We recollect, when the picture was first exhibited in New York, walking past
it with a young French artist, fresh from the atelier of Gerome. He asked
the author's name of "that 'omelette' yonder," and remarked that sunsets were
not bad things in art when they were not "false in tone as the dickens."
" Dickens," as every reader may not know, is diable in French. We defended
the picture, but the disrespect of the careless young intruder has clung to the
work in our mind ever since. If the stricture did happen to possess one grain
of justice, then our engraving, which is one of Mr. Hinshelwood's most lumi-
nous, liquid successes, is a better art-work than its original — a fact which it
would be gratifying enough to believe.
The mention of Sanford Gifford's Venetian subject introduces to our
thoughts the graceful group of Venetian "Water-carriers," painted by a foreign
artist, Wulffaert, whose Belgian birth is suggested by his name, and engraved
for our readers on page 49. The supply of fresh water in the sea-city is none
too abundant, and the custom is for householders to buy the indispensable
crystal, like a gem of price, at the hands of water-carriers, who bear it in
large kettles through the town. These water-porters are young girls, and form
a race apart. Robust, brown, graceful, and dressed in a traditional costume,
they are among the most picturesque inhabitants of Venice, and, when they
happen to be fair in face, recall the women of Veronese, with their full persons
and liquid, serious, animal eyes. Herr Wulffaert gives us a cluster, as seen
any morning at one of the large wells in the public squares of Venice. In
the background rises the vast brick bell-tower of St. Mark's, and around the
cistern are collected the handsome girls whose ready hands assuage a city's
thirst. One lowers her bucket by its cord into the well-shaft ; another empties
the flashing fluid, like a fountain of gems, from one vessel into another; the
youngest, a pretty little creature, watches the doves, which are publicly fed every
FINE ART. 55
day at noon in front of St. Mark's, and which sometimes fly to other public
squares for variety of diet or for a sip of that fresh water which is rather hard
of attainment for them, and for which they are often indebted to the indulgence
of these good-natured water-bearing girls. The picture, besides being true to
nature and without any flattering idealization, is peculiarly graceful in its grouping
and the character of its personages.
At the Academy of Venice, and under the eye of resident Venetian sculp-
tors, Miss Blanche Nevin, the authoress of "Cinderella" (page i6), received
her best technical education. This artist is a sister of the Rev. Dr. Nevin,
whose exertions in building a handsome church for American Protestants in the
very heart of Rome were so creditable, and so quickly successful upon the
triumph of the present government over the temporal power of the Pope.
The lady is still quite young, but several of her figures in marble have been
successful, as witness her "Maud Muller," and a subject owned by Mrs. Ste-
phens, the society queen. "Cinderella" sits with an air of discouragement
among the ashes, in pose as if the Dying Gladiator had shrunk back into
infancy and femininity. Dreams of the splendors and delights into which her
luckier sisters have been admitted occupy her little head, while her own future
seems as dry and cheerless as the faded embers. Cheer up, small Marchioness!
In a moment the fairy godmother will appear, and you will escape from your
marble and be a belle, and your tiny Parian foot shall be shod in glass, and
the pumpkin shall roll with you and the rats shall gallop with you, and the
Prince shall kiss your little mouth into warmth and color. The creator of this
^"S^?'"'& figure, who some two years back de-Latinized herself and exchanged
the shores of Latium for the streets of Philadelphia, is one of the most prom-
ising of the rising school of lady sculptors.
Miss Nevin finished her "Maud Muller" in the atelier of another Phila-
delphia artist, the well-known and highly-successful Joseph A. Bailly, whose
"Aurora" we copy on page 6. Mr. Bailly exhibits, besides this ideal figure,
which rises so white and mist-like in the middle ot the great American gallery
of paintings in Memorial Hall, a portrait work of ponderous importance, the
likeness of President Blanco, of Venezuela, recently set up in bronze at Caracas.
Mr. Bailly, as a young Paris revolutionist exiled by the events of 1848, went
over to England, where he wrought for awhile in the studio of his namesake.
56
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Edward Hodges Bailly, author of "Eve at the Fountain." Coming to this
countr)', he attracted immediate attention by the skill with which he could carve
and "undercut" the most intricate designs, and gradually rose to success as a
sculptor of portrait and classical subjects. From the corner of Sixth and Chest-
FINE ART.
57
F. Feyen-Perrin, Pinx.
Melancholy,
nut streets, in this city, three of Mr. Bailly^s works may be seen at once — the
Washington in front of Independence Hall, the Franklin on the corner of the
58 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Ledger building, and die fine horses supporting the escutcheon on the Sixth
street facade of the same edifice. The technical ability of this prolific artist is
especially shown in all that relates to the mechanical portion of his art. His
modeling in the clay of ponderous and elaborate subjects, with assured touch
and upon a well-calculated skeleton or frame, is so quick and imperative as to
seem like magic to less skilled practitioners. His labors for the republic of
Venezuela consisted in the colossal equestrian figure now exhibited, and a
standing statue of still larger scale. The standing figure was modeled, and the
equestrian one twice repeated, in the space of four months, to be in readiness
for a special anniversarj'. It is not likely that any other artist in the country
would have accepted and fulfilled the commission for such a piece of time-
work. The "Aurora," likewise, is a piece of magic; the equilibrium of the
figure, whose feet are folded far above the ground, and who rises just over
the trailing folds of a vail which merely sweeps the earth, is a powerful stimu-
lant of our wonder. To have made such a device in bronze would be easy;
but to carve it out of marble, when a false blow of the hammer would lay the
beautiful image low at once, seems more than human skill could accomplish.
Then the transporting of the critically-balanced figure in safety was a remark-
able event, only to be brought about by a mechanical genius as conspicuous
as the artistic. But Mr. Bailly has passed through the apprenticeship of every
art that mechanics includes; and his marble vails and flowers and figure, light
and perfect as a blossom on the stem, have successfully removed — half standing,
half overhanging — from the studio to the destined position in the far-away Park
edifice. The image is like a crystallized mist from daybreak: "Aurora," only
half disengaged from the Night, whose vail sweeps lingeringly from her fore-
head to the ground, holds and scatters upon the earth those blossoms whose
petals are opened by the winds of morning, and whose blushes are copied from
the blushes of the dawn. Such an evanescent idea ought to be sculptured in
mist; but Mr. Bailly is able to give a mist-like tenuity to marble.
An instructive comparison of the overcoming the technical difficulties of
sculpture may be made by looking first at Mr. Bailly's lightly-poised figure, and
then at some of the sculptures which Italy has sent over with a lavish hand to
the Centennial Exhibition. However these statues may disappoint the lovers
of classicality and repose, there is no question that in overcoming the stub-
FINE ART.
59
bornness of material, they teach many a valuable lesson to our chiselers. We
would indicate, as special examples of the triumph over this kind of difficulty,
the hair in Caroni's "Africaine" (page 40), and the dressing-robe in the same
artist's "Telegram of Love" (page 32). These works, though completely dis-
severed from the Greek theory of sculpture, have a rich, pictorial, and as it
were, colored quality of their own which justifies the theory on which they are
carved. If the success in representing texture were attained by an uncommon
and worthless degree of mere yfw/j//, it would not be commendable; but exami-
nation will convince us that it is not the difficulty or the patience, but the live
flash and expressiveness of the touch that gives the effect. The flowered silk
of the dressing-gown in "Tlie Telegram" gives no evidence of excessive diffi-
culty overcome: it is its felicitous invention which strikes us. The heavy
crisped tresses of the " Africaine" are no more closely finished than the
smoothest locks and bands of hair sculptured by Chantrey or Westmacott; but
the sculptor, putting a brain into his chisel, has set it to thinking, and invented
for his woolly convolutions a glancing, sketchy touch as expressive as the
brushing of Reynolds on canvas. The Italian cleverness, as a mechanical and
inventive development of resources, is well worth studying. Signor Caroni has
chosen subjects well adapted to show off his rich and glittering style. In the
"Africaine" we have the heroine of Meyerbeer's opera, the black Afric queen
whose dusky soul was illumined with the light of tenderness at the visit of
Vasco de Gama. For these primitive intelligences love is the apple of know-
ledge; when it is once bitten, the nature is changed, the Eden is spoiled, the
contentment is lost, and the whole soul is thrown into tlie passion of desire,
for bliss or for despair. In Signor Caroni's picturesque work we have the
uncultured queen tortured by the pangs of a bootless passion, her supple body
thrown broodingly beside the couch where her hero dreams of another, and
watching with jealous eyes the lips that murmur of her rival. In his "Telegram
of Love" we are amused with a lighter and more hopeful subject: this radiant
maiden, who confides to the neck of her dove the fluttering message which
will lead to a rendezvous or an answer, is tortured by no doubt, crushed by
no despondency. We can imagine the haste and tumult of her telegraphy, a
tumult indicated by her alert, moving figure; we can see the hurry with which
she has sprung from her morning dreams, the hair hastily knotted, the peignoir
Co
THE IXTKRXATIOXAL EXHIBITION, iSj6.
quickly thrown on, and the bird briskly dismissed from the cottage steps, with
a last loviny., brooding bend of the head over its faithful wings. For so large
FINE ART.
6i
a statue this figure has an astonishing Hghtness and bewitchment. The stooping
posture is a bold, daring contradiction of the rules arranged by the martinets
of art. It is all grace, spontaneity, sweetness, and pastoral charm. Its technical
y. C. Farbts, PiKx.
merits disappear under the gracious elegance of the conception. From "The
Telegram" to Selika, the "Africaine," there is a gulf of transition, but the maid
of "The Telegram," lovely as she is, is eclipsed by the strange tropical inten-
62 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
sky of the "Selika." Equal in the technical part of the carver's art, there is
no comparison in the lofty scope of the subject.
A replica, reduced in size, represents in this gallery the celebrated "Reading
Girl" of Pietro Magni, of Milan. This work, which was one of the charms of
the London Exhibition of 1862 (see page xlv of our "Historical Introduction"),
loses litde by being accommodated to a more portable scale. It is seen in the
Annex, close to the exquisite figure of a girl nursing a sick kitten, by Vela,
the famous sculptor of "Napoleon Dying." Not unfit to stand beside these
delicate renderings of child-sentiment is "The Litde Samaritan" (page 24), a
marble poem by one of our American sculptors, J. S. Hardey. We have here
a pretty maid of ten years, who, carrying the drink of the harvesters through
the sunny field, has tempted a bird to taste it, as she stands silent and curi-
ously watchful, with the cup in her extended hand. Is it water pure? Is it
something stronger, such as harvesters love to taste behind the hedge? We
do not know. The bird, shaking its wise, saucy little head with an air of
doubt on the rim of the cup, shall decide for us. But of all the skillful repre-
sentations of child-feeling in marble, in which the present Exhibition is so
remarkably rich, it is probable that "The Forced Prayer" (page 48), by Pietro
Guarnerio of Milan, bears off the votes of the greatest number of spectators.
It is an epigram in sculpture, and it is epigrammatic sculpture carried to the
limits of the permissible. This telling little figure has received a medal. It is
easier to understand the subject from our spirited engraving than to construct
it in the mind from a description. The handsome little rebel is standing in
his shirt, sleepy and ready for bed, but denied the blessings of repose until
the customary paternoster is gone through with. Conscious that there will be
no rest for him until the ordeal is over, he begins to mumble the holy words
with frankest hatred, throwing himself into the prescribed attitude of supplica-
tion like a trick-dog into his positions, with a skill derived from long practice
rather than from feeling, while the implied devotion of the routine is belied by
every line of his face, and from his piously lowered eye escapes the tear of
temper and not of contrition. Of half-a-score varied works by Signor Guar-
nerio, this one probably has the most friends.
These exquisite trifles seem, however, but bijoux, and their manufacture
but bijouterie or jewelers' work, in comparison with the ponderous "Antietam
,^s^^
THE AMERICAN SOUDIEE.
FINE ART. 63
Soldier," in granite, of which we give a steel engraving. Like the nation he
defends, this colossus is in the bloom of youth, and like it he is hard and firm
though alert. What art has succeeded in making this monster out of granite?
He is twenty-one feet six inches in height. What sempster, working with
needles of thrice-hardened steel, has draped him in those folds of adamant,
that hang ten feet or farther from his inflexible loins ? The sculptors of ancient
Egypt, who had their colossi in granite also, worked for years with their
bronze points and their corundum-dust to achieve their enormous figures, while
the makers of this titanic image, availing themselves of the appliances of
American skill, have needed but a few months to change the shapeless mass
of stone into an idea. Something rocky, rude and large-grained is obvious
still in this stalwart American; his head, with its masculine chin and moustache
of barbaric proportions, is rather like the Vatican " Dacian" than like the
Vatican "Genius." But, whatever may be thought of the artistic delicacy of
the model, Mr. Conrads' "Soldier" presents the image of a sentinel not to be
trifled with, as he leans with both hands clasped around his gun-barrel, the
cape of his overcoat thrown back to free his arm, and the sharp bayonet thrust
into its sheath at his belt. Rabelais' hero, Pantagruel, whose opponents were
giants in armor of granite, would have recoiled before our colossus of Antietam,
because his heart is of granite too.
The American heroes who have really succeeded in conquering the stub-
bornness of this mossy stone, and making it bend before them into the
desired shape by the power of ingenious machinery, are the New England
Granite Company, of Hartford. Before their wonderful ingenuity the rock
seems to lose its obstinacy; and, furnish them but an artistic model, they will
translate its delicacy into the most imperishable stone.
What Mr. Conrads gives us in granite, Mr. George W. Maynard gives us
— page 29, "1776" — on canvas. It is the same inflexibility, the same courage,
the same mature will in stripling body; only in Maynard's revolutionary hero
these qualities are aggressive, while in Conrads' defender of the Union they
are conservative. The figure in Mr. Maynard's "1776" is one of the "embattled
farmers," a homespun patriot, bearing the standard that represented our Union
before we had a flag — the pine-tree banner of Massachusetts, used as a
device in the first battles of the Revolution, before the stars and stripes
64
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
were invented. In his other hand he grasps the ancient musket — perhaps
the very
"Old queen's arm. 'MzX Gran'iher Young
Felclietl back from Concord — Uusled."
On the wall behind him is seen a placard, with fragments of the date, '76,
and of the words
"Union" and "In-
dependence." This
manly figure, in the
picturesque "Con-
tinental" uniform,
so rich in angles,
gables, lappels, and
revers, who crosses
his gun-barrel over
the standard he
will only yield with
his life, looks as
sacred as a cru-
sader. In his face
of grief and valor
we see the rankling
wrong, the press-
ure of fate, that
were the birth-
throes of our na-
tion. It is a face
fit for a philoso-
pher, transformed
streets of our cities
by events into that
of a warrior.
And this obser-
vation leads us to
interject the ques-
tion whether any
country ever yet
begot a national
type of face appa-
rendy able to do
so much thinking
and philosophizing
as the American
when at its best.
The problem is
whether the world
yields an amount
of thinking suf-
cient to equip the
deep, brain-worn
visages we see in
all our national pic-
tures, or in real
life in the business
There is nothing else like thern in the world. Com-
pared with the American soldier's face, as defined from the testimony of all
our artists and the very photographs of our officers, the faces of soldiers over
the rest of the world are those of undeveloped intelligences ; the Greek con-
testants of the Parthenon frieze are but larsre babies; the English soldiers of
66 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
Hogarth's "March to Finchley" are good-natured, immature, beef-eating lads;
the French soldiers of Vernet are dried out of all individuality — a tinder-box
and a spark — a lean cheek and a glowing eye — food for powder, and then
nothingness. But our ordinary American phiz has a look of capability, of
knowingness, and when hamlsome ol intellectual majesty, that it would take a
vast deal of actual achievement to justify us in wearing. It is walking about
under false colors to adopt such faces unless we are really the philosophers,
tacticians and diplomats of the age !
Turn we to George Becker, of Paris, whose "Rizpah" is probably the most
impressive picture in the Exhibition. One lancies this work to emerge from
some gloomy studio, whose tenant is aged, tall, morose, and poetical. On the
contrary, little George Becker is one of the least terrific and most likable of
dwarfish youdis, a mild butt for the raillery of his taller chums among the
pupils of Gerome. Amid the paint-shops and costume-markets of the Latin
Quarter is to be seen often a small fresh-faced figure, with a good aquiline
profile overshadowed by an immensely tall and glossy hat; in the hand an
artist's box of colors, which is of a size almost to drag upon the ground, and
which conceals a large proportion of the person of the walker, as he spreads
his short compasses to their utmost distention in getting briskly over the ground.
It is Becker. "Come back with )our color-box or in it," says the studio friend
from whom he parts, alluding to the Spartan and his shield. He takes all
jests with a quiet, good-natured smile, and goes home to paint tragedy. We
recollect walking with him to the funeral of the painter Ingres, and the diffi-
culty of keeping "down" with him, as he stepped with mincing tread among
the mourners. It was snowing, and he asked a group who paused on the
pavement near die church, "Shall we not seek a porte-cochere?" — while the
attendants, opining that the flakes would have uncommon difficulty in finding
him out, laughed at his anxiety even among the solemnities of the occasion.
Such is the pleasant litde lad, always mild, neat and conciliating, who goes into
his studio, seizes his enormous brushes, and turns out for us the almost
Michael- Angelesque composition of "Rizpah." Ah! in the presence of so
impressive a work we scarcely think of the physical means by which it was
created. We think of the idea alone, the terrible ordeal of constancy and
maternity. Our engraving on page t,2> gives a vivid conception of Mr. Becker's
FINE ART. 07
subject, though the imagination has to expand the cut to the size of nature, on
which scale the original is painted, to get the full vigor of the tragedy.
The seven sons of Saul, whom David delivered to the Gibeonites to be
hanged to avert the famine, are seen suspended from a lofty gibbet, in the
evening of a stormy day. It is the commencement of their exposure, "the
beginning of the harvest," and Rizpah has just initiated her gloomy watch
against the eagles, which come sailing toward the corpses from afar. Over her
head hang the fair young bodies of her sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and
the rest. She is a strong Jewish heroine, a worthy mate for the giant Saul,
and her posture while she fights the mighty bird with her club is statuesque
and grand. As she throws up one massive arm as a fence between the
aggressor and her dead, and looks into the eagle's eye with a glance in which
grief is temporarily merged in horror and repulsion, we seem to hear the
hoarse, desolate cry which escapes from her parched mouth to scare the fam-
ished creature from his prey. The attitudes of the dead youths are supine,
with a languid and oriental grace even in death, and the curled Assyrian beards
of the older ones contrast with the pitiful boyishness of the rest, while the
whole row of princes, tender, elegant and helpless, forms the strongest contra-
diction to the direct, rigid, and as it were virile force of the woman. Another
painter might have chosen the misery, the desolation of Rizpah's vigil for his
theme. But this artist sees, in the whole long tragedy, the peculiar feature
that it was effective. Rizpah succeeded in defending the relics of her family;
the incessant watch, by night as well as by day, from the beginning of barley
harvest until the rainy season, was grand because it was unrelaxed and vigilant.
Mr. Becker therefore, by sinking the mother's grief in her fierceness and energy,
has developed the real sentimental force of the situation ; any quiet treatment
would have lost it. He has delineated for us the first grand example in history
of maternal devotion, the Mater Dolorosa ot the Old Testament, in lines and
colors that leave an unfading impression.
A painting that commemorated a most touching incident, while it formed
on its production an epoch in historical painting, is West's "Death ot Wolfe."
Many spectators may have neglected this picture for more showy rivals. Dark-
ened, overshadowed and of no great size, it makes small effect among the fresh
and garish productions of the British School, where it is hung. Benjamin West,
68
THE JXTERNATIONAL EX H I B 1 T 1 X, 1S76.
when he painted it, was at the heiyht of his friendly rivalry with Reynolds.
Reynolds was inaccessible in portrait, but in history West was able to read a
lesson to Reynolds. Dunlap, in his "History of the Arts of Design," tells the
incident which made this picture a milestone in art-development. Up to this
period, the exceedinp^ly feeble efforts of Ensrland in "hiq-h art" had leaned entirely
to the classical: the statues of her warriors had been draped as Romans or
FINE ART.
69
Greeks, and the few battle-pictures that had been produced were treated in a
half-symboHc or representative manner, with a pseudo-classical endeavor to
Almx Tadam Pi.
llie tonvaUscenf
make their heroes look like the heroes of Plutarch and Xenophon. A modern
musket, a modern cap, the uniform of the day, was considered "low art," and
70 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
left to caricaturists like Hogarth. In the height of this false classicality of the
"Augustan age," West ventured to represent one of England's best-loved
heroes, a young and intellectual enthusiast excessively dear to the nation's
heart, falling exactly as he fell on the heights near Quebec, with the surround-
ings and equipments treated as nearly as possible in literal fidelity. It was an
innovation, meant for what we now call realism. Reynolds was alarmed; Fuseli
was alarmed; the amiable and genial President of the Royal Academy, who
would have been delighted with the vigor of West's sketch if only he had
clothed his hero in a helmet and cuirass, dissuaded him for a whole hour from
introducing the novelty. When he went away he exclaimed that West, if
the thing "took," was revolutionizing the art of England. The good sense of
the nation went over to the side of the sensible painter, and this picture, to
us so dark and dim, was the radiant success and sensation of the day. But
for West's intelligence, it is hard to tell how much longer the absurd and
hollow classicality of the period would have lasted; we might have had for an
indefinitely longer term red-taccd Englishmen draped as Grecian heroes in
hundreds of pictures, and English verses attempting the false antique in dramas
like Johnson's "Irene." In France, as we know, the Roman taste endured in
art to a considerably later date. When David wished to represent the wives
and mothers of France correcting the discords between the Girondists and the
Jacobins, he painted Romulus and Tatius reconciled by the women of the
Sabines; and Guerin, desiring to show the Emigrants of the Revolution return-
ing to their bereaved homes, invented a "Marcus Sextus" to tell the story.
But English art, set in the right path b)' West, was forever content, after the
production ot this picture, to leave the eloquence of facts to produce their
natural effect; and accordingly, when our own great wars came to be recorded,
a pupil of West — Trumbull — was empowered by a wise education to represent
them as they happened, and in the strictest historic sense.
West's "Death of Wolfe," of which we present a copy on page 53, is a
touching and solemn composition. On the ground, near the crest of Abra-
ham's Heights, the young hero is dying in the arms of his friends, at the
moment of victory. The defences of Quebec are taken, Montcalm's forces are
in full retreat, and the chain of French strongholds will not much longer bar
the advance of Anoflo-Saxon civilization across the American wilderness. But
FINE ART. 71
this consciousness is only just dawning on the expiring hero. It is the thick
of the battle. As young Wolfe sinks down with his death-wound, with the
issue still uncertain around him, an officer cries, "They fly! I protest they fly!"
"Who fly?" asks Wolfe with terrible anxiety, through the death-ratde. "The
French" is the reply, and the young chieftain, raising his eyes to heaven as
West has drawn him, gasps out, "Then I die happy!" and expires. Around
him kneel the English captains bare-headed ; the brave young colonists, our
forefathers, who supplied the flower of the Bridsh forces, in fringed leggings
and moccasins are looking wistfully on ; one of them has just run up with the
news of the French retreat; and, poindng to the captured flag, with its Bourbon
lilies, this American rusdc gives Wolfe the news of his success — a form of
apprisal that w*e somehow like better than it it had come from lips stranger
to the soil. More completely indigenous, a red-skin brave, one of the few whom
British diplomacy was able to win from the wily blandishments of the French,
sadly crouches on the ground to count the last breaths of the expiring martyr.
Wolfe's figure is young, slender and aristocratic ; the pale, upturned face is
such an one as might well belong to the literary hero who beguiled the journey
of the night attack a few hours before by reciting Gray's "Elegy," with the
remark that he would rather have written that perfect requiem than take
Quebec. This charming saying, so lull of college-boy enthusiasm, gives reality
to the character of Wolfe in our minds; the measures of the stately Elegy
close around him for his own proper epitaph and consecration, and throb, as
a dead march, among the bowed military figures whom West groups in his
picture.
The epoch (as defined by costume) of the bewitching "Mistress Dorothy"
(page 68) is that of the "Death of Wolfe." We are again at the period, so
big with changes for the face of the world, when England covered herself with
victory, and made herself the dictator of Europe, to be brought up with a
sudden check as soon as she tried to extend her conquests to the Western
hemisphere. Yes, here is the costume that Gainsborough and Northcote and
Romney immortalized ; but from the scene of the dying Wolfe and scattering
French, what a transition! It is like changing our reading from Marlborough's
Dispatches to the beautiful make-believe antique English of Thackeray's
"Esmond." The epoch, the period, is there, but we shift from grim work to
72
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
play. "Mistress Dorothy" is a lovely, simple English girl, of the time when
Anglo-Saxon simplicity was real simplicity, uncontaminated with superficial
science and French novels. This round-faced maid, who sits waitino- for her
palfrey to be
brought mean-
while drawing
on a pair of
gloves that
Jugla and Al-
exandre would
declare to be
of frightfully
bad cut, pos-
sesses a mind
healthfully va-
cant of "Con-
suelo" and
"The Prin-
cess." She
knows the af-
fairs of the
buttery, doubt-
less, and every
day counts the
eggs of her
father the
Squire's poul-
try-yard. The
crystal pellu-
cidity of her
eyes has never
been crossed
by ugly shad-
ows of skep-
ticism and
speculation.
Doubtless she
has sins of her
own to ac-
count for, and
to ask expia-
tion from, as
she humbly
kneels at her
tlimity pillow
by night ; but
the sins of the
bluff Hano-
verian period
have a certain
innocence
about them ;
one can see
that the hero-
ines of Miss
Burney's nov-
els have never
let their teeth quite meet in the apple of knowledge. Now-a-days we should
have to dive very deep into the country wilderness to meet such a gem of
simplicity. Ah ! we travel a thousand miles for a wife, and think nothing of
it; if we could defeat time as easily as space, and plunge into distant epochs
Tatt xrdttn Scuip
HYBIA THE BLI^D GIRIL OF FOMFIE"
u s iptPTTialicnal ExtaTjitioiilSTS.
GEBBIE & BARBIE.
FINE ART.
71
R. Lthman. P,y.
La Rota — the Foundhiig Hostitat at Rome.
74 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
for our mates, what a hurry-scurry there would be to get the first choice!
Swinburne the poet would make for Cleopatra; Faust the printer would call
for Helen of Troy; Longfellow would pursue his Evangeline, and Tennyson
a protracted " Dream" of fair women, while we for our part should be con-
tented with the dewy rustic buxomness of " Mistress Dorothy." For this sane
and beautiful creation we have to thank Mr. George A. Storey, a talented
London artist who has not received the honor of an election to the Academy,
but who in this picture and in another entitled "Only a Rabbit" displays quali-
ties that make the highest honors seem not inappropriate.
A really exalted sentiment of rural tranquillity is poured over Mr.
Bellows's scene entitled "Sunday in Devonshire" (page 44). It is the vibration
of the church-going bell expressed in landscape-painting. We seem to see and
breathe a different atmosphere from the work-a-day air as we mingle with these
smock-frocked peasants on their way from church, appearing to have just
received the blessing of .Sir Roger de Coverley. Mr. Bellows is a young
American painter who has passed much time in England, and whose works,
both in oil and water-color, take an inspiration from English art rather than
from that of the Continent. The spirit of English landscape, too, whose nutty
honest flavor he seizes so perfectly, is a boon he has secured from a residence
in the tight little island. It is not for him to soar Into Colorado scenery or
wrestle with the Yo Semite. The stage he loves is set with snug and crisp
trees and happy cottages; sometimes he Is familiar, and gives a kitchen-garden
comedy for the benefit of Gaffer and Gammer; but when he is at his best, as
in the present example, the limpid, translucent touches of his pencil transfer
the very sentiment of "an English home," with the security, the hereditary
calm, the
" Dewy landscape, dewy trees.
Softer than sleep; all things in order stored,
A haunt of ancient Peace."
We have already described and illustrated the wondrous archaeology of
Mr. Alma Tadema ; but we are sure our readers will readily forgive us for
recurring to a painter of such marked originality. On page 69 we present an
engraving of his gem-like picture entitled "The Convalescent." The original
is not large, and reminds us strangely of some mosaic just dug up from
FINE ART. 75
Pompeii — as highly finished as the celebrated "Pliny's Doves," and as dramatic
as the "Choragus instructing his Actors." We are transported, by the magic
art of this wizard painter, into the times of the later emperors, when rococo
had completely usurped the simplicity and ponderousness of early Roman taste,
when the arts of conquered Greece had rendered the Italians finical without
rendering them elegant, and when even the false Egyptian and false Hellenic
of i^drian had been forgotten, and the grandiose had sunk into the triviaF
throughout all the mansions of Rome. The museums of Europe, the lavas of
Herculaneum, and the fragmentary busts of the statue-galleries, have to be
ransacked, for costumes, hints, habits and back-grounds, before such a group
as "The Convalescent" can be constructed, so true to life in the first century.
Amid the worst innovations of Pompeian taste — the bewigged toilets, the pillars
painted part way up and merging into pilasters, the garments chequered with
a confusion of colors, the household divinities made absurd with barber's-block
frivolity — he places his group of the invalid dame and her attendants. He
knows well that the imagination is more easily caught with the every-day litter
and vulgar ugliness of a period of decline than with the frigid perfection of
the more elegant epochs. The graceful figures of an Attic vase would touch
us but slightly, and nothing would come of an effort to interest the mind with
the Grecian couches and reclining nymphs of the classical period as the French
restored them in the day of the Revolution. Our artist's persons are direct,
real, ungraceful, and convinting. The noble dame lounges on her carved seat.
Her hair is bunched up into a hideous mop, which gives her infinite satisfac-
tion. Her accomplished slave has dipped her hand into the round box of
parchments, and has extracted some of the light literature of the day — not that
story in Virgil which made an empress faint, but the love-poems of Ovid or
the graceful fancies of Catullus. A younger slave-woman kneels in the fore-
ground over a tempting luncheon. It is homely and stately at once. It is
parlor-life in the days when they talked Latin without making it a school-
exercise, and perhaps, in some cool corner around the pillar, Pliny is writing
one of his pleasant letters.
Christian resignation, which soothes the bed of sickness, and finds an
answer even for the yawning challenge of the grave, is most poetically illus-
trated by the British artist F. Holl, in his two subjects contributed to the
76
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Exhibition. One is entitled "The Lord gave, the Lord hatli taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord;" the other, "The Village Funeral: 'I am
the Resurrection and the Life.' " The former, lent by its owner, F. C. Pawle,
FINE ART.
77
Esq., forms the theme of our engraving on this page : it seems to attain the
very acme of religious pathos. We share in the first meal which unites an
humble family after some awful bereavement. The watchers who have taken
their turns at the sick couch are released now — their faithful task is over; the
78 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, iSj6.
household whose regular ways, have been overturned by the malady has come
back to its wonted course again, and the pious nurses have no cares to prevent
them from meeting at the board as of old. Is there anything more dreadful
than that first meal after a funeral? The mockery of leisure and ease — the
sorrowful, decorous regularity of the repast — the security from those hindrances
and interruptions that so long have marred the order of the attendance — these
improvements are here indeed, for what they are worth ; but where is the
tender hand that was wont to break the bread lor the household? — where are
the lips that used to breathe forth the humble grace before meat? It is the
very emptiness of a once cheerful form — the bitterness of meat eaten with
tears. The frugal board is neat and pleasant —
" But oh for the touch of a vanished liand,
And the sound of a voice that is still !"
In Mr. Holl's picture we see this ghastly, unnatural decorum of the table-
spread with funeral bakemeats : the wan woman beside it, whose hollow eyes
and tear-worn cheeks tell of faithful watching for many a weary night, is neat
with the miserable neatness of the funeral evening; the young brother in the
back-ground is brushed and combed more than his wont, and his attitude has
an unnatural restraint; the old woman behind is tender and sjmpathetic, beyond
the customary usage and practice of that kind of old women. Death has come
among them all like a leveling wind, reducing everything to the regularity of
desolation. Otit ot this weary scene of frustration and lassitude arise the words
of the sincere-looking, earnest young curate: "The Lord gave, the Lord hath
taken away;" he stands by the robbed fireside; he joins the family-circle
whose most precious link is gone, and he confidently cries, "Blessed be the
name of the Lord !" It is the very triumph of faith out of the jaws of death !
Mr. Holl has uttered that sure word of promise which is the best reliance of
our religion. In the assurance of the immortality which is to join the family
at last in a more-enduring mansion, is the highest boon of Christianity. The
expressions here are so earnest, pure, devout, and full of tenderness, that the
painting is as elegant as a canto of In Mcinoriam. It is deservedly a great
favorite, and forms a precious example of the intellectual and moral profundity
which is the redeemine feature of Enolish art.
AMERICA
". IirleTRaliOTial IWiiluUoii 16Y6
JBBBIB « n*
FINE ART. 79
A work of considerable dignity and elegance, and one deserving respectful
criticism apart from the mere stupefied admiration accorded to its gio-antic
size, is tlie colossal group of sculpture entitled "America," set up in the great
Central Hall of the Memorial Building. Besides being an interesting reminder
of a superb monument, it is noteworthy as probably the largest ceramic work
ever made, except those Chinese towers confessedly put together out of small
fragments. However many may be the segments in which the "America"
group is cast, they must severally be enormously large, and in their grouping
they produce an effect ol perfect unity, so adroitly are their joints concealed.
The memorial recently erected to Prince Albert, in Hyde Park, London, has
occupied the leading sculptors of England for many years. The podium or
central mass, covered by Mr. Armstead with friezes of the principal poets,
artists, and musicians, is approached by flights of steps on its four sides, the
whole forming a vast platform, at whose corners are pedestals, quite remote
from the central edifice, and respectively crowned with groups of sculpture.
"Asia" is one of these groups, executed by J. H. Foley; the late P. Macdowell
designed the group of "Europe;" the veteran John Bell, whose works, says
Mr. S. C. Hall, "have long given him a leading position in his profession," is
the inventor of the elaborate allegory dedicated to our own country, a fine
engraving of which we introduced in an earlier part of the present work. The
quarters of the globe are backed by other groups of sculpture representing
human achievement: as, "Agriculture," by W. C. Marshall; "Engineering," by
J. Lawlor; "Commerce," by J. Thornycroft, and "Manufactures," by H. Weekes.
The collection of figures representing "America," which are wordiy the
attention needed to unravel their symbolism, may be thus described. America
herself, the central and all-embracing type of the continent, rides the bison in
the centre of the cortege. Her right hand holds the spear, her left the shield,
decorated with the beaver, the eagle and other Indian signs ; her tiara of eagle
feathers sweeps backward from her forehead and trails over her shoulders; she
is the aboriginal earth-goddess, depending upon kindlier forces to illumine her
path and guide her steps. This office is assumed by the figure representing
the United States ; the serene virgin, self-confident and austere, wearing the
lineaments of the Spirit of Liberty, belted with stars, and leading the earth-
goddess with a sceptre on whose tip shines that planet of empire which
8o
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
"westward takes its way," is the effiy^y of our own happy country. At her
feet lies the Indian's quiver, with but one or two arrows left within it. Behind
the figure oi tiie Republic is that ot Canada, a pure and fresh-faced damsel,
wearing furs, and pressing the rose of England to her bosom. The figure
seated on a rock, in
Iront, is Mexico, rep-
resented by an Az-
tec in his radiating
crown of feathers,
with the flint a.xe,
curiously carved, in
his hand ; a corres-
ponding sitting per-
sonage on the other
side, and not within
the scope of the
engraving, is South
America, a Spanish-
faced cavalier in the
broad-brimmed som-
brero and grace-
fully folded poncho.
These are the prin-
cipal features of the
lotty and elaborate
group which casts
its shadow over the
Boor of Memorial
Hall. The artist has
worked in such evi-
dent sympathy with
and admiration for
the Spirit of Ameri-
can institutions that
he deserves the most
gracious recognition
of this country; the
original of this
mighty group, be-
held by all who pass
under the marble
arch and stroll to-
wards the Serpent-
ine, is a perpetual
appeal for Constitu-
tional Liberty, as we
understand it; and
the lesson taught by
those sister statues,
who though crown-
less subdue the
rugged forces of the
West, is not lost
upon the thronging
citizens who gaze upon them. The effect of the group as we have it, in - the
pleasant earth-color of Messrs. Doulton's terra-cotta, is quite unique — something
more exquisite and piquant than that of white marble, with which the eye
becomes satiated after a long course of civic monuments.
English rustic life is well-depicted in Constable's painting of "The Lock"
FINE ART.
8i
(page i"]^, which is a piece of good fortune for us to keep for awhile in
America. The importance of John Constable's influence and example cannot
possibly be over-estimated in the progress of landscape art throughout England
Sculpture by E-^idio Pozzi.
Tin- Wvitli of Michael Angela.
and the Continent. His effect on art is in fact considerably greater than that
of Turner, because, while Turner's individuality cannot be imitated to any
F. .4. B'-idsi'i.i". r-,:r
84 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
advantage, the discoveries of Constable are not altogether uncopiable. He was
born at East Bergholt, in Suffolk, in 1776, and died at his home in Charlotte
Street, London, on the first of April, 1S37, with Southey's "Cowper," which he
had been reading an hour before his death, lying at the bed-head on a table.
Constable found landscape composition enthralled in the noble formality of
Gainsborough and Wilson; by paying attention to nature, and not to any
school, he invented a manner of his own, expressed certain phases as they had
never been expressed before, and lelt behind him a body of works which were
the code of a new faith in art. The mannered landscapes of his predecessor,
Wilson, in England, have just the same relation to real scenery that the man-
nered descriptions of Pope and Shenstone have to actual effects ; it is landscape
gardening, not lantlscape ; you are among groves that "frown," and "horrid"
rocks, and "nodding" mountains, and all those other curiosities that are never
found in nature by those who really love her, but are invariably lent to her
by artists of the drop-curtain sort; at the same time, on the Continent, the
grand but baleful infliience of Poussin had set all the world to formalizing
nature, and that of Claude had established his precedent of artful symmetry
among those who could never reach his golden air. It was for Constable to
charm away the whole world trom the shrines of these divinities, and they are
empty to this very day. His fresh and Hashing style, so true to a single aspect
ot European climate, set every painter to looking, not upon antique bas-reliefs
and Italian ruins, but right into the open, windy, showery, capricious sky, and
among the dewy grasses underfoot. He made the lush and humid leaves
twinkle with sense of growth and stirring life and mounting sap. He sent the
scudding clouds flashing and darkening across the changeable sky; he swept'
this sky with rocking branches and tufted ripples of foliage. Although not ,
altogether unappreciated during his lifetime, his fame has immensely increased
since his death; along with "Old Crome" and Bonington, he enjoys a sort of
posthumous elevation to the peerage ; his slightest works are sought out like
gold, and even the gallery of the Louvre, so very chary of credit to English
art, has recently received with pride two' or three of his pictures — one of them
a very noble study of a sea-beach swept with shadows from a storm — and hung
them in positions of honor. He is the true progenitor of such eminent land-
scapists as Troyon, Rousseau, Frangais, Dupre, and even Daubigny — some of
FINE ART 85
whom find their fortune in appropriating a mere corner of his mantle. "Among
all landscape-painters, ancient or modern," says the celebrated C. R. Leslie, "no
one carries me so entirely to nature ; and I can truly say that since I have
known his works I have never looked at a tree or the sky without being
reminded of him." In his personal character Constable was winning, and con-
quered the most unpromising material to his allegiance ; he would say to a
London cabby, "Now, my good fellow, drive me a shilling fare towards so and
so, and don't cheat yourself." Constable's picture at the Exposition, generously
lent by the Royal Academy, is an important example. One of his flashing skies,
summing up the whole quarrel between storm and sunshine, occupies the
upper half; against this lean a couple of vigorous, riotous-looking trees, half-
drunk with potations of superabundant English moisture. Both these features
are modelled: the sky shows as much light and shade as a study of sculpture,
and the trees are moulded into their natural dome-like forms, with play of light
and shade on the mass ; in such a scene, an inferior painter is tempted either
to keep his sky very thin, in order to get it well back from the invading trees,
or else, if the sky has much variegation, to turn his trees into a mere dark
screen, perfectly flat, so as easily to insure the desired contrast and difference
of values. Constable boldly moulds his clouds, and vigorously lights the sun-
ward edges of his trees, trusting to his close copywork of nature to get his
firmament fifty miles away. A man in a boat is guiding the prow by means
of a rope passing around a post through the brimming reservoir of the lock,
which the care-taker is raising with a lever applied to the gate. Beyond
stretches a level view of a flat country, of which a considerable stretch is
commanded from the elevation of the race-bank. In spirit and idea it is all
English — homely, familiar, dew-bathed, and tender. It reminds us, in temper,
feeling and gratitude, of the lines in Matthew Arnold's "Thyrsis":
" Runs it not here, the track by Childsworth Farm,
Up past the wood, to where the elm-tree crowns
The hill behind whose ridge the sunset flames?
The signal-elm that looks on Isley Downs,
The vale, the three lone wears, the youthful Thames?"
In the crowded vegetation with which he fills the foreground of this picture,
Constable is all himself. Without pedantic analysis of forms and genera, with-
86 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
out that close attention to vegetable minutis which invariably turns landscape
art into botany, and destroys the higher truths of atmosphere, the painter gives
with great success the vital principle of weed-growth — the confusion, the struggle
for light and air, the soft brushing of leaf against leaf surcharged with moisture.
This ardent study of a great inventor's, "The Lock," is twice noteworthy: first
as it hangs, as a hit at nature taken on the fly, and second as a document,
showing the invasion of realism into academic art early in this century. It is
in some of its qualides a resume of the advice which West gave Constable in
his youth, and which it was not his own cue to act upon. "Always remember,
sir, that light and shadozu never stand still." Hamerton quoting this proverb,
says, "It thus became one of Constable's main purposes to make people feel
the motions of cloud-shadows and gleams of light stealing upon objects and
brightening before we are quite aware of it."
It is hardly unfair or extravagant to say that Emile Breton's picture of
"The Canal at Courrieres" results from Constable's "Lock." This sincere and
simply-viewed landscape effect could Ije traced, through a connected series of
studies and exemplars, logically and materially back to England and the studio
of Constable. It is part of the same movement, the championship of pure
nature, of pure impression as the phrase goes, and the hewing in pieces of
Claude and Poussin. The simple life of the brothers Breton, one of the most
charming imaginable examples of gentle existence in rustic France, is an idyl
in itself, and is in perfect harmony with Constable's rustic way of living in the
heart of nature. Among the dandies of Paris who throng before the pictures
at the spring exhibitions, there is seen most years a singular and charming
figure — a short, solid-looking countryman, tanned and rough, with hat carried
respectfully in hand, hair blowing about in the utter absence of pomade, a
preposterous old watch-chain, and a waistcoat of white Marseilles stuff, pro-
fusely adorned with flowers of all colors: such a make-up would be the fortune
of a comic actor in the part of a "brave paysan;" but the country farmer
elbows his way with modest confidence to the most exquisite examples of art
in the exhibition, and some of the dandies make way for him with unfeigned
respect, for he is known to b-^ Jules Breton, painter of some of the finest of
them all. Jules, renowned for his figure-subjects, has a younger brother, Emile,
a landscapist, in character not unlike himself, and the author of the picture we
88 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
represent on page 76. From the agreeable pen of Rene Menard we have a
lifelike sketch of all the brothers. Courrieres, where they live, is a little
village in French Flanders, Departement du Nord. Of the children who played
about in the mayor's garden, and watched with delight the house-painter
touching up the eyes and lips ot the tour wooden garden statues every spring,
the youngest was Emile, the subject of this paragraph. When he was nine
months old, however, and before such intelligent watching was possible to him,
he lost his father, the good mayor, the year being 1827. Nothing can exceed
the charm and the goodness, the mixture of patriarchal despotism and sub-
stantial kindness, of a French country mayor in an out-of-the-way province.
Looking like a market-huckster, he is armed with the majesty of Rhadamanthus
and graced with the goodness of Sir Roger de Coverley. Another brother now
inherits the good, simple office of mayor vacated by the father, and conducts
the; village brewery. Jules, the great ])ainter of "The Benediction of Harvest,"
is some three years older than Emile, which vast advantage in point of time
has made him treat the junior like a patron and guardian all his life. During
the ruinous overturnings of 1848, the career of th(' family was clouded by
poverty, owing to which circumstance, says M. Menard, "the younger brother,
Emile Breton, enlisted in the army, but after a time he resumed his studies in
painting, and is now among our most distinguished landscape-painters. Pictures
like those of Emile Breton charm by a mixture of poetry and reality; his
moonlight effects and winter scenes assign to him an eminent position among
our best painters. When the invasion came he separated himself from his family
to defend his country, and his conduct was such that his general embraced him
on the field of battle. After the war he returned to art, and in the last exhi-
bitions his pictures had so much success that public opinion now places him by
the side of his brother. The talent of the two brothers, though applied to
different objects, presents nevertheless great affinities, since we find in the
figures of the one, as in the landscapes of the other, the search after truthful-
ness combined with an extreme refinement in their way of understanding
nature." Both the landscapes contributed by Emile Breton belong to the class
called "impressions;" they are not meant to be examined from the distance of
a foot and with the aid of a magnifying-glass, but to be viewed for the whole
effect and from a somewhat remote position. Under these conditions they are
FINE ART. 89
found to deliver the aspect of nature with a close verity not often reached by
painting. The "Village in Winter" records the exact appearance of soft, heavy,
clogging, and lumpish snow; you can positively see it melt. The "Canal at
Courrieres" makes capital of the straightness, starkness and uncompromising
The Youthful Hannibal.
rigidity of the water-course beside which the artist has played from childhood.
The two banks, as if laid out with a ruler, recede in perspective towards tl^e
point of sight as you look up the canal; on each side rise small perpendicular
trees, trimmed every year in French fashion: it is like looking up a tunnel —
the straight level bars of cloud closing over the top and completing the effect
of imprisoning the sight between the bars of a sort of cage. The low and
92 THE INTERN Al'IO X AL EXHIBITION, iSj6.
rather melancholy light strays as best it can through this all-enclosing prison.
It will be observed that the water of the canal seems perfectly level, though its
wedge-shaped boundaries would give it the look of a hill-side in the hands of
an unskillful artist. Mr. Breton gives us a direct, unadorned, literal page from
the book of nature: it is the unfeigned report of an impression derived from
a particular place and hour; this candid scene is wordiy to figure as the back-
ground of one ot his brother's peasant groups.
The pathetic subject of which we give a representation on page 73, "L.a
Rota," is by Mr. Rudolph Lehmann, of London. The picture represents an
incitlent only too common in Rome, where the scene is laid. A wretched
mother has brought her babe in the evening to the foundling hospital, and is
about to place the tiny creature in the "wheel," or turning bo.\ at the window,
to become henceforth a waif and unclassified citizen. In a little while she will
have departed, and the good nun within will search the receptacle for the little
nestling, never more to know mother or kindred. The culpable and weak-
hearted girl, of course, is not too hardened to part from her offspring without
a pang; there is genuine grief in her last despairing kiss, and, perhaps, genuine
pious feeling in the care with which the rosary has been brought along with
the cradle. It is the resolute endurance of obloquy for the future advantage
of the infant, of which the impulsive, impressionable Southern character is
incapable; to tind diis heroism of the depths, we have to seek a sterner and
more exalted race, among the duty-laden peoples of the North — ex. gr., Hester
Prynne, and "The Scarlet Letter." Mr. Lehmann has thrown his figure into a
very graceful pose, without doing violence to that directness ot action and
uncalculating simplicity which the subject demands, and which these moments
of soul-outpouring provide. The cradle deserves a note, too — cradle and
basket at once, with hoop handle for convenient transport, such as the Italian
poor make use of. How often has this cradle-pannier made its innocent
journeys from door-step to hearth, and from floor to grass-plot, perhaps for
generations, without consciousness that it should one night make its stealthy
trip, along the narrowest, filthiest and loneliest alleys of Rome, to the "Rota"
m the hospital of infamy!
Mr. K. Dielitz, of Berlin, shows a piece of hearty, sympathetic genre
painting, in the subject we illustrate on page 41, entitled "I and my Pipe."
FINE ART.
93
This fine young Bavarian peasant, from liis festal dress, seems to have returned
from some holiday occasion — perhaps a shooting-match, perhaps a sermon. The
luxury with which he stretches his stalwart and clean-shaped legs, and concen-
trates all his attention on the filling and lighting of his pipe, is quite contagious
in its hearty humor. The pipe, like the magnificent porcelain stove against
which his broad back is set, is monumental in its dimensions. A witty writer
says the German peasant's face is composed of the following features : the
eyes, the nose, and the — pipe.
We may gratify our national vanity by taking a specimen of American
industry as a contrast to Bavarian otiiiin cmn dignitatis. Mr. E. T. Billings, of
Boston, sends to the Exhibition a highly characteristic interior representing a
wheelwright shop, with the capable-looking master bending his philosopher's
forehead over a felloe for the wheel that is in process of construction at his
side. The extraordinary scrupulosity with which every detail of the shop is
individualized and dwelt upon renders this picture a litde wonder. The artist
does not spare us a chisel, a saw, a gauge, or a glue-pot. It is Dutch patience
celebrating American skill. There is capital training for the painter in the
elaboration of one of these laborious toys of art ; there are provoking little
problems of drawing, perspective and grouping to be worked out, and the
general difficulty of giving each item its prominence without losing breadth;
and one would say that every artist, no matter 'how large a style, how volup-
tuous a color, how easy a grace, how masterly a generalization he is ultimately
to attain to, might profitably spend a year of his youth in putting together one
of these intricate puzzles. It is said that Sir John Gilbert occupied his boyhood
in drawing the details of ornamental carriages; so the not altogether different
business of a wheelwright shop may be the training destined to conduct Mr.
Billings to iame and excellence.
For the entirely graceful and feminine figure of "The Bather" — engraved
on page 72 — we are indebted to Professor Antonio Tantardini, of Milan. The
posture of this shrinking woman — who .seems to tear surprisal — is at first sight
somewhat like that of Mr. Howard Roberts' statue of "The First Pose." In
both, the foot is timidly drawn up into the mass of drapery on which the
figure sits, and the lace is shielded in the right elbow: this is, of course, an
accidental resemblance, and only proves the fact which has become proverbial
94 THE INTERNATIONAL EX H I B IT I ON, 1876.
among sculptors, that there are very few poses in nature for the artist to select
from. Immense have been the number of " Bathers" contributed to art by
sculptors and painters in want of a theme, the plain reason being that the
situation of bathing is one of the very few in which a modern female subject
can be treated without any violation of modesty of character. The artist,
impelled to make a stud)- ot nude flesh — after all, the worthiest exercise afforded
by nature to the craft — can hardly find another situation in modern life which
affords him the needed revelation, without the slightest sacrifice of womanly
character. The variations, too, which may be played on this delicate theme arc
infinite. Let the careless reader, who is disposed to pass by Tantardini's fine
work with the hasty remark, "Only another bathing girl!" turn again to the
glowing and delicate episode of Musidora, in Tliomson's "Seasons," as he reads
for one more time this gentle pastoral, which the Italian sculptor seems to have
been familiar with, he will comprehend the resources which art can find in the
topic of modesty taken at a disadvantage.
Another sculptor of Milan, Signor Egidio Pozzi, contributes to the Exhibi-
tion a sitting male figure, supposed to represent Michael Angelo in his youth.
We present an engraving of this work on page 81. The Milanese artist repre-
sents his immortal fellow-sculptor at that period of his boyhood when he
studied all day long in the garden "of Lorenzo de Medici, "the Magnificent,''
in Florence, among the treasures of antique statuary which the growing taste
for such collections had then amassed in that retreat. It is related that the
first original work of the young genius was a face of an antique satyr, or faun
— one of those grotesques which the architecture of the period demanded in
abundance for the decoration of keystones and lintels. The greater the extrava-
gance of expression, the richer the satisfaction of the architect, and the artists
of the time exhausted their fancy in giving the look of leering, fantastic intelli-
gence to these stone faces which peered over arches and portals, and conferred
an air of conscious slyness and counsel-keeping on the various apertures of an
edifice. Michael Angelo's first effort was as great a hit as the mature efforts
of finished sculptors in this line, and the row of mascarons, or grotesque faces
made by Jean Goujon for the Pont Neuf in Paris, contained no example more
expressive than this first specimen, which had been made by the elfish stripling
in Florence. " However, your faun is wrong," said Lorenzo, laughing indulgently
FINE ART.
95
over the boy's shoulder. " He is old and has cracked many a hard nut with
those crrinnino- teeth; he ought to have lost some of them by this time."
When the Magnifico passed next into the garden, young Michael had knocked
out a tooth, and the patron, pleased with his own cleverness and the lad's, was
96 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIB ITION, 1S76.
unreserved in his praise of a work which now recorded a thought of his own
within one of Michael Angelo's. The figure sent to us by Signor Pozzi is one
of intellectual delicacy ; it is hardly that of the fiery young goblin who drew his
own face, with pointed ears as a satyr, before he was twenty-one, and who, in
this same garden of Florence, so taunted Torregiano that the latter marked
him for life with a broken nose. It is a representation of the etherial, creative
part of Michael Angelo's character. The lad before us seems likely to grow
up into a sort of seraphic being, more like a Raphael than like the gusty and
morose recluse who carved the Moses. Yet, it is undeniable that this lonely
man had his side of ineffable tenderness, and there is artistic justification for
the artist who chooses to represent that phase of his nature on which his con-
temporaries were condnually harping, when they played upon his name and said
that his works were exected by an "Angelo."
One of the most creditable representatives of our country abroad is Mr.
Frederick A. Bridgman, whose picture of " Bringing in the Corn " is engraved
on pages 82 and 83. Mr. Bridgman, when a young lad, became tired of executing
line-engravings for the Bank Note Company in New York, and determined to
open for himself a career as an oil painter. He looked like a mere boy when he
took his seat, in 1867, among the students of one of the large ateliers of Paris;
but the professor soon noticed that he had uncommon application and advanced
rapidly out of the hard iitiey style which his apprenticeship to the burin had
cramped him into. Young Bridgman passed his summers in Brittany, and
afterwards went to Algiers and Egypt. If ever artist fulfilled Apelles' motto
of "Nulla dies sine linea" it was this indefatigable worker. Now, his reputa-
tion is both European and American, and the Liverpool Academy has bought
one of his pictures as a model to its students and an adornment of its galleries.
He is a constant contributor to American exhibitions, but he has seldom sent
to his native country a better scene than the Brittany subject which we intro-
duce to our readers. The drawing of the padent oxen, with their liquid eyes
and hides of plush, is worthy of Rosa Bonheur, or any animalistwho ever painted.
The rustic scenery represents to the life one of those narrow earthy roads of
Brittany, which have stretchetl between the old town for thousands of \ears, in
many cases, and whose bed is often worn to a hollow beneath the level of the
fields from the mere carrving off of its dust, through centuries of travel. The
FINE ART
97
picture basks in a delicious breadth of soft summer sunshine — which in Finis-
tere is never dry and never too intense — and the type of an honest farmer's
H. Moulin. Sc.
boy, who balances the goad in his toughened rustic hands and goes along the
road singing and contented, is a fresh and pretty thing to see. Mr. Bridg-
loo THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
man's versatility is shown in the fact that he paints all subjects about equally
well, whether landscapes, or circus scenes, or life-size Oriental heads, or country
eclogues, like the example we are considering.
A French figure-painter, who is no tyro, and is by no means young, yet
who has made within a few years a quite novel and separate effect for himself
by a fresh and original style of portraits, is the artist who calls himself " Carolus
Duran." His old friends remember him as plain Charles Durand. He excites
attention because in each of his portraits there is a new study of character,
surroundings, relief and light and shade. To the "Salon" of 1876 he sent a
portrait of the editor Girardin, in the stuffy seclusion of his study, backed up
and almost wrapped up with a voluminous red curtain. To a previous one he
conveyed the portrait of Mile. Croizette, of which we show a representation on
page 87, in the full liberty of air and space, sitting on horseback, with the long
beach in front of her and the illimitable sea behind. Mile. Croizette is the
actress who made her grand sensation by turning green and dying of poison
every night as the suicide in "The Sphinx." When those of our readers who
have not seen the original are told that this lovely horsewoman of Monsieur
Duran's is a woman the size of nature, on a bay hackney the size of nature,
standing out dark and distinct from an Infinite that is the size of nature too,
they may conceive that this work — though only a portrait — attracts about as
much attention as any painting in the French Department. Many visitors, too,
have seen her great part played in our own theatres and have heard of Mile.
Croizette as the creator of it, and therefore have a personal interest in this
gifted and fascinating woman, who is the sister-in-law of the painter. The
picture, indeed, is one you cannot escape from ; whenever you are in the large
room where it hangs, the ripe, imperial beauty, turning to you her questioning,
rallying face reins you up as she does her steed. She impresses each spec-
tator as if she had something very particular to say to him. This individual
appeal is the charm of a French society-woman, and it is the charm, too, of
a certain class of the best portraits of the old masters. For our own part
we habitually think about this picture — which we have been irresistibly drawn
to a great many times — that the attractiveness of it resides especially in the
face, around which all the rest of the composition plays as a mere Arabesque.
The eyes of the figure strike so directly into the eyes of your own head, and
r J POTM'IT i^ .A RA^eiYX^
]FIEE]D)]IN& TMM SACHilKJU K-BIS HK' TJtKlE fflAlLILS OF IKAHWAC.
MonallWulitinyi i;-;
GEBBIE &BAKPaE,
FINE ART. lOi
the smiling, appealing, sidelong visage talks to you so intimately, that you
have but a divided attention left for the neat hackney — with its uncommonly
short ears — that stands off from the sky like a bronze, or for the iron drapery
and cast-steel hat, which form the insignificant continuations of the beauty's
commanding head and sofdy-turning neck. It must be acknowledged that the
portraitist requires a great deal of space to relate his impression. Is there no
way of expressing a fine woman's thoughts about the sea, and that sense of
dominating something which she so much enjoys as the mistress of a fine
animal, without importing the sea and the fine animal both bodily into the
canvas? Taken as it stands, however, the picture is a triumph of perfectly
clear analysis in, and careful relief of, objects against a distant sky. To deter-
mine merely the right tint of that bright face against that bright sky, so that
the flesh should look like flesh and the firmanent like light, was a whole volume
of problems in art. The clearness with which the character, and a special
mood of a character, is defined is above all a singularity of the picture ; you
see just how far the painter is impressed by his model, and are reminded of
some of Alfred de Mussett's analyses. The French are always logical and
retain their logical expression even when submitting to a charm.
The gende negro slave-girl, whom one of our prettiest steel-plates shows
in the act of feeding a flock of storks, is the work of an eminent English
artist, Edward J. Poynter, A. R. A. It is called "The Ibis Girl," or, more explana-
torily, " Feeding the Sacred Ibis in the Hall of Karnac." It is a singular and
lovely picture, and there is a sly, quaint humor in the contrast between the
ibis-headed god on the elevation of his pillar, with incense rising up to his
sacred beak, and the real ibises, who display such frank carnivorous appetite
at his feet. The ibis, it is known, was sacred to Thoth, the Egyptian Mercury.
Those ancient Africans, with their extraordinary talent for finding hidden
meanings in things, discovered that the inundation of the Nile was caused by
the annual coming of the ibis, instead of being the mere pretext of a visit
when the feathered pilgrims wanted food. Impressed with this idea, they fer-
vently worshipped the symbol presented by the migrating ibis, and, that the
sign of their land's fertility might be never wanting, reared the birds in their
temples with the greatest care. When a chick came out of the e.gg black, he
was welcomed as a specially fortunate guest, honored during his life and spiced
I02 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
and embalmed after his death. Mr. Poynter's subject is an inferior ministrant
of the temple feeding these birds with fish. Her posture is simple, natural and
beautiful, and in its soft rounded form offers a contrast to the varied attitudes
of ungainliness among the birds around her. Wrapped in transparent linen
tissue, and covered with heavy symbolic jewelry, she feeds the storks with a
shower of small fish which she scoops in a patera out of the large basin held
against her hip. The monstrous pillars of Karnac, painted and covered with
bas-reliefs, close in the background. The birds, who are bolting their food in
a gormandizing and irreligious manner, are capitally studied, laying their long
beaks sideways on the ground to gobble better, or elevating their heads and
shaking the food into their throats as into a hopper. The innocent interest of
the simple-minded black novice is very well felt by the artist. It is the precise
shade of feeling demanded — the reverent care of a sacred thing, modified by
familiarity, but not obscured — the humility of the Levite who sustains the temple
service. A well-known French picture, illustrating a well-known French proverb,
shows two augurs amongst the sacred chickens laughing heartily at the joke
of the thing, and turning their backs upon the mystical hen-coops. Mr. Poynters'
gentle priestess will never laugh at her feathered gods.
Our nearest neighbor, the Dominion of Canada, is represented at the
Centennial Exhibition by one hundred and fifty-six paintings, among which are
several of a high order of merit. One of the most versatile exhibitors, whose
works represent the three styles of portrait, marine and imaginative art, is
Mr. J. C. Forbes. Of this gentleman's portraits, that delineating his Excellency
Lord Dufferin, is of a particularly close resemblance, as many of those who
have been glad to meet the distinguished original on his "Centennial" tour,
have hastened to testify. His marine painting is an interesting representation
of the foundering of the ship "Hibernia" in mid-ocean; in his third or "imagi-
native " ^^«r^, the artist presents himself as the illustrator of an American poet.
Longfellow's song of "Beware!" from the romance of Hyperion, has been
accepted for thirty years as the best and standard expression of feminine
coquetry; and this is the poem which our neighborly contributor chooses to
embody In a graceful picture, engraved by us on page 61. A lady, whose
beauty and elegance are not concealed by a somewhat worldly-mannered
carriage, is touching the feathers of a fan with her pearly teeth, while the
t -von Harach. Pi
Luther Intercepted.
I04 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8j6.
fingers of one hand are trifling with the long ciiain she wears, as if she was
ready to throw it over her victim. The narrow, languid eyes gaze into the
beholder's with the refinement of tender flirtation. It is the figure we meet in
the parlor, in the park, in the piazza of the watering-place; one would say
she was all heart; but
"Take care !
She knows how much 'tis best to show!
Beware ! Beware !
Trust her not,
She is fooling thee ! "
Another illustration of English poetry — this time of a loftier and more
serious nature — is the statue of "Lucifer," in pure white marble, by Signor
Corti, of Milan. Our cut, on page 80, gives an excellent idea of the original,
if it be borne in mind tliat the statue is of the full size of an ordinary human
form. It is one of the most seriously treated and practically conceived figures
which the prolific Italian sculptors have shown to us. The conception is that
of Milton's "Paradise Lost," representing the lost angel, not as a base and
intellectually degraded being, but as the fallen rebel, nothing less than arch-
angel ruined. The moment chosen is that after the immersion in the lake of
fire, when the vanquished chieftain first recovers his ethereal strength.
"Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
His mighty statue. On each hand the flames
Driven backward, slope their pointing spires, and rolled
In billows, leave i' the 'midst a horrid vale."
The figure of Lucifer is that of an athlete in the pride of youthful strength,
yet rather nervous and ethereal in its power than ponderous or solid. Upon
the haughtily squared shoulders rides a head of most proud and noble carriage,
surmounting a long boyish neck. The vast wings, covered with disheveled
feathers, are drooping and half closed behind the shoulders, and the long
agitated locks, from which heaven's ambrozia has been scorched all away, flow
wildly back and meet the torn plumage of the pinions. The expression of the
head, turned proudly to the right with a look of angry investigation, needs no
description of ours, having been so superbly anticipated by Milton.
FINE ART.
I OS
GiuHo Branca, Sc. The \ou7ig Grape Gatherer.
Another sort of "Lucifer," or light-bearer, is seen in the pretty bronze
statue, by Antonio Rosetti, of the "Telegraph," or "Genius of Electricity." This
G. F. Fo/in^'sf:y. Pinx
Lady fant
over Bishop Gardin
io8 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
figure is one of a pair, of which the other represents with equal felicity the
idea which Rumsey and John Fitch elaborated so painfully on our shores — the
idea of the railway-engine. Of the "Electricity" we present a steel engraving.
Signor Rosetti hails from Rome, — the last city on the face of the globe, one
would think, into which these modern innovations would penetrate; to anni-
hilate time, annihilate space, — what interest has Rome in these, or what would
she be if the time of her enduring or the extension of her ancient sway were
lost to thought! Yet these disturbances and destructions, doing away with
distances and periods, have swept at last, by the throne of the Popes and the
sepulchre of the Caesars, and Rome is modern and pretty, like the rest of the
world. Signor Rosetti has aimed at representing not so much the power, as
the agility, delicacy and grace of the electric spark. Just born to illuminate
the world, the child of light balances in one hand the torch of intelligence,
while with the other he wraps the wire cables around the glass insulators which
stud like mushrooms the stems of the trees; the forest of electric masts will
cover the globe, and time will be shrivelled to nothingness, as the corpulent
old planet throbs within the girdle of Puck.
The most celebrated sculptor, whose labors contribute to the embellishment
of our e.xhibition, is certainly John Gibson, whose death lately caused such deep,
wide and unfeigned regret in the art-world. Kindly wrapped in his art,
wonderfully absent-minded — the ideal of an idealist — Gibson was for many years
the British lion in the circles of Rome, where he abode. His "Venus," executed
for St. George's Hall, that classical Parthenon of Liverpool, is represented at
the Centennial by a replica, which occupies the post of honor in the largest
gallery appropriated to British use, and is represented by our engraving on
page 64. The original excited a storm of doubt and objection by being stained
or colored in imitation of life. Gibson's previous works, the details of his
"Queen Victoria" and "Aurora" were faindy tinted, but the "Venus" showed
the experiment carried out to its utmost limit. The first "Venus" was exhibited
in 1854, in a chamber arranged for the special purpose, and the wondering
crowd saw the marble entirely disguised under a flesh tint, which obscured the
translucency though it did not affect the form of the marble, while the eyes,
hair and drapery were stained to imitate the appearance of actual life. In the
present duplicate, kindly committed by its owner, Richard C. Naylor, Esq., to
'J S Ir-teinatioiialExlubiUorL,1376.
THE GENIUS OF ELECTRICITY.
FROM THE STATUE BY ANTONIO ROSETTI, ROME.
SEBBIB & BARRI'B.
FINE ART.
109
the risks and perils of exhibition, we have the purity of a beautiful fragment
of ItaHan marble. The artist represents with dignity, with sweetness, and even
with somewhat of the lymphatic and sedentary plumpness of the ordinary British
matron, the charms of Venus Victrix. In her left hand she exhibits the apple,
dctur pulchriori, which Discord had contributed to the marriage-feast of Peleus.
The robe she has relinquished hangs over her arm and trails over the carapace
of that mystical tortoise, which was the attribute of the divinity at Elis. Yes,
she grasps at length the easily-won apple. Paris will steal Greek Helen, and
the Grecian ships will dart to the Cape of Sagseum, and Troy will blaze, — but
what cares Beauty, — supreme in her conquest of smiles and graces, alone on
her pedestal of white supremacy?
Few English artists are thought of more admiringly in France than W. Q.
Orchardson. "Of M. Orchardson," says I'Art, "it may be said that he is
essentially a painter. Whatever subject he may select, even incompletely
represented, you see that he has been attracted by some quality sincerely
picturesque, or by an effect which it belongs to painting to render ably * * * The
painter is a colorist by race." He contributes two specimens of his skill to the
Centennial display, one a humorous picture of Falstaff, Poins and the Prince,
the other a wonderful expression of sentiment in landscape, " Moonlight on the
Lagoons, Venice." The expression of fleet racing motion communicated to the
sky full of hurrying clouds, as well as to the darting boat and the sweeping
water, is worthy of a poet. All the picture hurries together, from left to right,
yet with a power as soft as love, while inexorable as fate. There is no light
on the horizon — the last lamps of Murano or the Lido has been left behind,
and the glittering shore of Venice is outside the picture ; there is nothing but
the diffused lustre of the moon, whose orb is not visible, but whose brightness
flashes and waves behind a certain station among the clouds ; immediately
beneath this brightest spot is drawn the black iron beak of the gondola ; as
the beak rises towards it and defines the place of the moon, so the stretching
oar of the gondolier tends directly to it, the bench on which he stands is laid
toward it, and the two female figures assist, by the brightened folds of their
drapery, to point to an illuminator which we cannot see. The supreme lone-
liness of the sea and sky, emphasized rather than contradicted by the black
darting boat, gives a curious htish to this impressive painting.
no THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
The long, intense, memorable monotone which Orchardson introduces into
his marine is deeply poetic in its way, and is characteristic of certain modern
studies and states of feeling. The fine old windy sense of the open sea, — the
feeling characteristic of the day when Dibdin sang its songs and Stanfield
painted its tides, — is indicated by an American artist, Mr. Briscoe, with
peculiar success, in the subject of our steel-plate, "A Breezy Day off Dieppe."
This excellent picture was long in the principal American room. Gallery C,
and numbered 158. The picturesque gables and square tower of the town,
whose chimneys send curling sooty clouds into the dirty weather of the zenith,
occupy the left : the most sharply serrated roof stands dark against the brightest
opening in the firmament : the fishing boats are racing in, lowering their sails
hastily as they make the pier ; the waves are dancing in light and gloom, the
gulls are blown like foam along their crests, and a row-boat filled with fishy
ballast is making towards the slippery staircase quay. It is a capital picture
of amphibious life, and our engraver has been peculiarly felicitous in making
his contrasts of light and shade do duty for combinations of color. As for the
painter, his manipulation of forms and values, so that every object is in its
necessarily right place, and would unhinge the composition if removed, shows a
mastery of scenic effect.
The DiJsseklorf schoal of painting, formerly a great favorite for its clever
scenes of familiar life, is represented by a small constituency in the Fair; is
this indicative of a waning popularity ? The pleasant feeling of old days, when
the DiJsseldorf gallery was the vogue of the metropolis, and innocent maidens
at balls wondered how long it took "Mr. Diisseldorf" to paint so many
pictures, comes blowing back, a breeze pf youth, as we gaze at Ewers's " Duet
in the Smithy" of which our elaborate engraving is seen on page 65. It is
Hogarthism translated into German : each canvas is a page, with an anecdote,
an epigram, or a witticism, clearly set down — like an acknowledged wit's after-
dinner story. Of this table-talk of art, the " Smithy " is an amusing specimen.
The apprentice, who has music in his soul, and whose master is absent, is
letting the fire go out, the irons cool, the bellows collapse, and the baby
explode, as he plays his flute from a music-book reared up against the water-
ing-pot. The capital misfortune is that the tail-board of baby's cart has fallen,
and the infant, with his plump feet much higher than his head, is howling his
FINE ART.
Putro Miihxs, Pinx.
Uuriiij^' the Ser
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8j6.
obligato part in the " duet." A man who will be a Hogarth exposes himself to
perils through his very ingenuity ; determined to introduce as many graphic
objects as the space will hold, he forgets their mutual relations; thus Herr
Ewers, glad to show his ability in poultry, leads a meditative, corn-hooking hen
a great deal nearer the roaring baby than the most dislrait hen would get in
nature. But the picture is expressively designed and well painted. As is
proper to one of these dolce far niente themes, our sympathies are led out
altogether with the young Beethoven, impelled by the inner god of song to set
aside present duty, instead of with the utilitarian aspects of the case ; even the
inverted baby gets but small share of our concern in comparison with the
possessed, dreaming rhapsodist, who tames the strength of liis burly black-
smith's arm to die niceties of his playing. His pleasant, whole-souled, round-
headed figure is interesting and individual, though the face is concealed, and
there is real ability in which the beautiful velvety, sooty richness of an old
forge is represented in the background.
Although the conception of Mr. Gibson is rather correct than original, his
goddess is smooth and delicate, but hardly divine. It is curious what difficulty
even the most devoted lovers of the ancients have in producing a work which
would even at the first glance be taken for an antique. Mr. Gibson observes
the Greek rules of simplicity; directness; absence of protound expression; but
these negatives do not result in that position, a deceptive counterfeit of Greek
plastic art. One of his few pupils in latter times has been Miss Harriet
Hosmer. John Gibson, born in Wales late in the last century, practised
wood-carving in Liverpool, studied in Italy under Canova and Thorwaldsen,
and sent to the Royal Academy at home, in 1827, his "Psyche borne by
Zephyrs," of which Sir George Beaumont, the artist's best friend then, became
the owner. This portrait-statue, such as the numerous ones of the Queen,
those of Peel, of George Stephenson, of Huskisson, are more satisfactory than
his ideal figures. His great claim to notice is, after all, the idea he conceived
of tindng his figures, which he defended stoudy by reference to those traces
of color on Greek and Greco-Roman work which an artist residing in Italy
must so often see, and by which he must so inevitably be set to speculating.
Gibson never solved the problem; he never stifled by any supreme success
the voice of hostile cridcism; but if the triumphs of later men in polychromatic
-I*ij[lil
immf'^'
WM'M^ So
U S Iiitematioii.al ExhitatLon. 187 6 .
r.-^.,..j,.:- ■ -
' '"'^ ''00^^ -/V^' , ;-
114 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
sculpture should ever cause the taste to prevail, and our statue-galleries of the
future should shine with colors as in the time of the best Greek art, then
Gibson will occupy an honorable place as pioneer.
Amono- the specimens of that flexible, winning, seductive treatment of
marble which made the Italian sculpture at the Centennial a revelation, a
favorite specimen was "The Finding of Moses," by Francesco Barzaghi of
Milan. This group occupied a conspicuous central position in the Fourth
Room of the Art-Annex, and from its subject secured a general sympathy. It
was by no means the only contribution of the distinguished Milanese ; his
"Phryne," after having unveiled her charms at more than one world's fair,
occupied a prominent neighboring position, and his "Silvia" and "First Ride"
were ornaments of the Nineteenth Room of the same edifice. "The Child
Moses," however, was undoubtedly the elect of popular suffrage out of the
whole contribution of the sculptor. The beautiful child, a model of cherubic
infancy, is represented by Signor Barzaghi in the arms of his sister Miriam, a
budding maiden in the formal Egyptian cap. The gende slave girl is holding
up the litde foundling, with a tearful smile that w^ould disarm cruelty itself, to
see if she can win the favor of the dread Egyptian princess, whose presence
must be supplied by imagination. There are some wild legends, quite outside
the scriptural history, which excite the imagination in considering that strange
interview between the Pharaoh's daughter — whose name is said to have been
Thermutis — and the helpless young brother and sister. According to these
rabbinical tales, Thermutis was a lepress, and had six sisters also in the same
unpleasant plight. The baby touch of the future Hebrew statesman healed
them all, and for that reason he was allowed to be reared in the gyneceum of
the palace. Other singular and rather unbiblical stories cling around the group
of the slave-lawgiver, his mother Jochabed, and his prophetess-sister Miriam.
More than one of the Italian sculptors represented at the Exposition has rep-
resented the incident of Moses trampling on the crown. It is narrated that the
infant was one day playing boldly with the king, when Rameses placed his
crown on the litde Hebrew's head ; Moses, inspired with a holy hatred of the
idols with which the diadem was sculptured, tore it off and dashed it to the
ground. Such is the fable which Messieurs Cambi and Martegani have illus-
trated in their spirited statues contributed to the Exposidon. The sequel of
THE MWDIMG OF MOSESc
IT. S .Iitt6mational ExhibitiaTL 1876 .
KEBBIE SlHATSP.IE
FINE ART. 115
the crown incident, according to the legend, is that when the courtiers would
have punished the inspired infant for his revolutionary action, a wise counsellor,
more merciful than the rest, said, "Show him a ruby and a live coal; if he
snatches at the coal, he does not know right from wrong, and may be quit
for the scorching he will get." An opportune angel guided Moses' baby-fingers,
not to the gem, but to the coal, which he put into his mouth, and gave himself
that contraction of the tongue which was the life-mark of his career and the
symbol of his wisdom. These single figures of Moses and the crown are prob-
ably the work of revolutionary Italians, anxious to express symbolically their
opposition to royalty; but the group is more classical, and is a work of pure
and gracious idyllic art. Signor Barzaghi has made a tender, plaintive, appealing
work, which takes possession of the heart-strings at once. It is gratifying to
be able to state that this pure and elevating piece of sculpture does not leave
the city with the close of the festival it was sent to grace. It has become the
property of the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
While the Bible-leaf is still open, as it were, with the beautiful poem of
Moses in the arms of Miriam, we may turn back through the pages of the
present work and consult Huntington's large and impressive subject of Bible-
reading, entitled "Sowing the Word." This picture, which occupied a com-
manding position on the south wall of Gallery C, was seen necessarily by all
who even hastily examined the American department, and will be instantly
recognized in our elaborate copy on page 25. A venerable man is expounding
the Scriptures. His auditors are two maidens of the most contrasted types,
recalling Leonardo's " Modesty and Vanity" in the Sciarra collection. One is
dark, studious, attentive, and drinks in the Word like thirsty soil ; the other,
blonde, gay, distraite, and worldly, plays with a flower and looks away from the
lesson. Immediately above her head, in the tapestry on the wall, the Maid-
mother nurses her divine infant. The three heads, set so close together, express
with that instantaneous emphasis which only the sight of a work of art can
give, the three temperaments with which religion has to do — the didactic, which
enforces and perpetuates it ; the frivolous, which repels it ; and the receptive,
which absorbs and illustrates it. The important temperament of the three, so
far as the vitality of religion on the earth is concerned, is the middle one, — the
trifling and obstinate. It is the perpetual resistance which tests the tool ; and
ii6
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
again, our race is more improved by converting one mind from an obstacle into
an aid, than by letting a good many naturally sober ones go on in their mod-
eration without conflict. Mr. Huntington has always shown a strong moral
EagU and Turkey.
tendency in his more serious works. His masterpieces, produced in youth, were
the "Mercy's Dream" and "Christian Martyrs," and for these he will always be
accorded a hio-h niche in American art.
FINE ART. 117
William and James Hart, Scotchmen by birth, have long occupied a con-
spicuous place in the landscape art of this country. Their love of nature,
educated among the heather and gowans, has turned with frank acceptance to
the characteristics of American landscape, and has made them valuable inter-
preters of our rich sunshine and varied leafage. By William Hart, we engrave
the picture of "Keene Valley," in the Adirondack region, on page 36: the
chasing lights and shadows of a breezy day, covering the concavity of the
valley with swift passages of gloom, is indicated by the strong chiaroscuro of
our engraving, but the color, which is one of Mr. Hart's especial claims to
distinction, we cannot give. He loves to struggle with one of the most difficult
feats of landscape-painting, the dazzling tints of our forests in autumn. His
pictures of those mounds of leafy bloom which the Adirondacks yield in
November are veritable bouquets of florid color. He is fond of introducing
cattle into his scenes, — usually contrasting the colors of the animals strongly,
white against black and black against red, in the style of the German artist
Voltz. Of this ingenious arrangement, wherein we invariably find a white cow
in the foreground, like Wouverman's white horse, and another in sables close
by to relieve it, our cut gives a hint.
A French sculptor who is coming forward into deserved prominence is
H. Moulin, of whose bronze statue called "A Secret from on High" we give
a bold sketch on page 97. This capital work, after exciting unfeigned admira-
tion at a late Paris sa/oti, has crossed the seas to become one of the favorites
of the judicious in the collection at Fairmount Park. The elastic poise of the
Mercury, conveying the sense of Shakespeare's line,
" New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill,"
indicates admirably the levity of the messenger-god ; it seems to be with diffi-
culty that his figure can touch the earth. Bending gendy, he confides his
communication to a terminal image of a satyr, which will presently be consulted
as an oracle by some credulous mortal. We can fancy the answer, quite satiric,
which the grinning figure will give. The form of Mercury in this bronze is
really a masterpiece of simplicity and grace. The natural every-day action of
the hand which confines the caduceus, the expressive pointing movement of the
other hand, the whole play and gathering in of the slender young muscles
P, C. Comte, Ptnx.
120 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
which slip into each other and give the body a sinuous ease and an arching
grace as of an erecting serpent, are truly beautiful and rare. Among the very
great number of excellent studies of adolescence achieved by modern French
sculptors, this elegant figure deserves to keep a high rank.
Of M. Feyin-Perrin's gentle and thoughtful painting called "Melancholy"
(page 57), what need be said, but to cite Milton's immortal numbers? That
writer's e.xquisite "Penseroso" is a young man's poem; it breathes the sweet
captious sadness of youth, which is a fantasy of mood, not a necessity of experi-
ence. As we look at the picture, the unforgetable couplets come stealing
involuntarily into the thoughts:
" Come, but keep thy wonted state,
With even step and musing gait
And looks commercing with the skies.
Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes;
There held in holy passion still,
Forget thyself to marble 1"
In the painting, as in the poem, the sentiment is supplied half by the figure
and half by the landscape. Milton instances the inimitably close, private, world-
excluding, thought-compelling effect of a "still shower," "with minute drops
from off the eves." The painter, not less impressive, gives us the brooding air
of twilight in a wide landscape, where there is not a bird nor a flower, but
only the descending wings of crisping leaves to divide the air and stir the
tideless pool. Besides the "Melancholy," with its title borrowed from Diirer's
most poetical engraving, M. Feyen-Perrin contributed to Memorial Hall an
"Antique Dance," with a dozen graceful female forms, and a "Mother and
Child," representing a fisherman's wife tossing her infant on the sea-shore.
Another French painter has taken his inspiration from England. M. G.
Castiglione, of Paris, inspired by the antique manorial beauty of the celebrated
Haddon Hall, has studied its fine fagade and verdant terrace, which he makes
the scene ot an incident in the Cromwellian wars. Our large engraving on pages
98 and 99 gives an accurate idea of this interesting picture. One of Oliver's
ironsides comes with a search-warrant upon that lawn, sacred heretofore to
aristocratic mirth, games of tennis, and feudal hospitality. Perhaps the hospi-
tality to-day has been compromisingly generous ; some royalist refugee, whom
it is treason to keep, may be peeping from one of the countless windows of
122 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
the lofty Hall. Whatever the special incident may be, the painter has succeeded
in giving a piquant human interest to the grand old walls and stately parterre.
The party surprised by the entrance of the roundhead soldier is a gay and
stately one, giving the artist opportunity to show his knowledge of costume
and manners in the brilliant epoch he represents. Nothing — not even a herd
of dappled deer — could so picturesquely dot the lovely glades of the foreground
as these stately, bright-robed figures of the historic past. M. Castiglione paints
with a crisp, finished touch of uncommon delicacy and exactness. Choosing a
theme exactly in the vein of some of the English water-colorists and anecdote-
painters, he gives it that air of novelty and fresh candor which is often con-
ferred on a subject when a foreign commentator approaches and makes his
statement. His picture is comparatively large, considering the scrupulous minute-
ness of its touches, and it deserves the elaborate copy which we have caused
to be presentetl to our readers.
The paintings sent from Italy made a comparatively feeble effect, falling
behind the sculpture in impressiveness and accent. Many of the large canvases
were the work of professors, who are growing rather fusty, and the flaming
band of brilliant colorists who have sprung up in Rome around the very ashes
of Fortuny, and who call themselves the "modern Roman school," was com-
pletely unrepresented. Far be it from us to disparage a collection which
contained the landscapes of Vertunni and the dramatic subjects of Gastaldi
and Faruffini ; but a late development of art which has caused a noise in the
world, and which might have made a timely and appropriate contribution, was
conspicuous by its absence, and the connoisseur, while straying through the
solemn works dry with all the dust of the learned academies, could but wish
that Boldini and Simonetti and Joris had sent some of their audacious and
expressive splashes of color to liquefy the collection.
Among the most pleasing Italian paintings were the few comparatively
unpretending subjects of gcni-c. The humorous element, for instance in "During
the Sermon," by Pietro Michis, of Milan, though a little out ^ of place is irre-
sistible. The wood-cut on page 1 1 1 gives the pith of the incident. We see the
sacristy of an Italian church; these retiring-rooms, in the splendid ecclesiastical
edifices of Italy, are as richly ornamented as the basilicas themselves, and
accordingly we have as a foil to our pair of figures the inlaid floor, the caryatid
FINE ART. 123
carving, the sculptured panel with its Pax vobis. Here, in a sunny corner, the
little choir-boys, dressed for the service in their pretty overshirts of lace, are
beguiling the time till they are wanted to take part in the sacred pageant
passing in the body of the building. As is the habit in Italy almost from the
time of weaning, these little rascals are abandoned gamblers, and the most
unholy emotions are distending their small bosoms while they rattle the dice-box,
examine their hands, or display the winning card. The one who does this in
the present instance happens to have taken a kneeling position, but his knees
are not the knees of humility — rather of unholy exultation. His opponent, a
seemingly older but not a better player, has dashed his hand of cards in a
fury on the ground, where the polished thurifer drags its chain and forgets to
smoke in the preoccupation of the hour. A sketch of manners like this, caught
on the fly by one who knows the secrets behind the scenes, gives more of an
idea of Italy than can be had from many a book of travel — nay, even from
many an actual tour, blindly prosecuted at the heels of a routine courier.
As a pendant to this boyish comedy we are glad to be able to give
another, where the humors of boy-life are depicted by so eminent a master as
Wilkie. Our steel-plate shows to perfection the rich expression and beautiful
grouping and light and shade of Wilkie's "Boys digging for a Rat," which the
London Royal Academy was generous enough to spare for our grand com-
memoration. The reputation of Sir David Wilkie, the next great artistic
humorist after Hogarth, is built upon a long succession of admirable works,
and not upon a single example like the present one. His keen eye for
character, his wholesome happy temperament, the kind family temper which
distinguishes his humorous scenes, and the more artistic qualities of good color
and excellent composition, have made him a household-word, and the engravings
from his pictures household ornaments, wherever English art is known. Of his
pleasant, innocent, scrupulous personal character, the reminiscences of Haydon
and Leslie give the most agreeable glimpses. The painting sent to this country
as a specimen is about twelve by fourteen inches in size, and is agreeably
toned by age into a dim but powerful harmony. Our readers can observe
from the highly-finished steel-plate how richly blended are the shadows, how
soft the gradations. The group of little huntsmen is charming for character
and naivete. How natural is the attitude of the child on all fours on the orround
A Christian Marty
of Diocletian.
FINE ART.
125
by the wall ! How the wliite dog in the loreground relieves against the shadowy
interior, and how animated is his attitude! This was the genuine, legitimate
scene de mceurs of fifty years ago, before the strained ingenuity of Diisseldorf
artists had made painting a mere vehicle for obligatory and cheap sensations.
With Wilkie and Hogarth we laugh, or feel the stress of pity, all in a genuine
R nu—tle B t
it It J SI Ai^ Jo
inartificial way; with most of the modern genre painters we are sensible of the
creaking of the machinery, and our laughter, though extorted by real dramatic
skill, is begrudged and quickly checked.
A fine subject by Mr. Howard Roberts gives us the opportunity to say a
word for the beneficial results some of our artists are receiving from study in
France. The teaching of French professors is above all technical in its nature.
126 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
The teaching- of Italy is only an "inlluence in the air." The youny sculptor
who establishes himself in the Eternal City or Florence imbibes delicious ideas
of the poetry of the antique, "the beauty that was Greece and the glory that
was Rome ;" but he usually gets little instruction of a lofty order, and is often
seen strugo-ling for the rest of his life — "full of mammoth thoughts," as the
o-irl was at whom Hawthorne laughed. In Paris, on the contrary, there is the
intellicrence that has resolved into a system the best art-teaching of the whole
world. The student there learns that felicity in many sorts of technic which
makes him able thereafter to master whatever he has it in him to express.
Our fine steel-plate of Mr. Roberts's statue entided "La Premiere Pose," or
"The Model's First Sitting," indicates the peculiar sort of excellence attained
after faithful French study. The peculiar subject being granted, the figure is
hifdily meritorious in artistic qualities. The French distinguish works of this
character from historical subjects or traits of character, by the term ''academic"
or an academical study; that is to say, a conscientious reproduction of some
living figure, where faithfiil adherence to nature is more the object sought than
pathos or humor or dignity. A good academic study, however, may easily
include a degree of interest in the situation, and this is the case with the statue
before us. We cannot help sympathizing a litde with this poor girl, driven by
poverty to exposure in a painter's atelier. Was it not the gifted author of
"The Sparrowgrass Papers" who had a tender little story of the emigrant girl,
en(Taged to be married to an honest road-mender of her own green island,
who when work was scanty consented to unveil her perfect form in the studio
of an old artist who respected her, and helped her at last to marry the man
of her choice ? The academic of Mr. Roberts suggests some such delicate
story. As we study the features we fancy the case of a girl rather saucy and
scatter-brained by nature, who until the terrible ordeal is proposed scarcely
knows the sacredness of her womanhood : a situation at first sight simply bad
may thus be salutary in awakening the life of a dormant good. It this rattle-
pated grisette, who now perhaps feels a modesty she was hardly conscious of
when clothed, will keep at the height of virtuous sentiment she has now attained,
she will be saved to society. It is well known that many of the female models
of the European studios are good girls, who bare their forms to the artist as
innocently as to the physician, who take the exceptional situation without abusing
}{U.
^<iJlL^^^
,1^ A PRE M HERE POSE
US Imeinational Exhibition liVP
CEBBIE & BARBIE
FINE ART. 127
its temptations, and who often marry well and live on respectably. The dazzling
social position a professional model may emerge into is instanced in the case
of Lady Hamilton, who (though not the best specimen of the dignity of the
profession) was long the favorite exemplar for Romney the painter. The
technical qualities of Mr. Roberts's work, the highest perhaps of any among
the American statuary, are, however, what we wish particularly to point out.
From top to toe the resemblance to vital palpitating life is perfect; the firmness
of those parts of the flesh which are in tension, the pendant look of those
which are relaxed, the proportions, the system of lines and general cast of the
figure, are hardly to be enough admired. Very expressive is the muscular
action of the drawn-up legs, showing just as much contraction as is to be seen
under the adipose padding of female flesh. We fancy we detect in our
engraving, though most carefully and successfully copied from the original, a
certain look of pettiness about the head, and undue length of the foot. This
kind of trouble will often get into the most careful drawing after a statue, and
one the most carefully measured ; it is one of the snpcrstitio7is of the art of
design, a surmised annoyance that the most convincing proof will not remove.
Our engraving certainly is not big-footed or little-headed, though it may seem
to look so; and Mr. Roberts's statue is certainly small-footed, as any of its
admirers will testify; but a local play of light will frequently play such a trick
on the most accurately designed figure in a drawing or photograph. The
harmony of lines in the present statue is singularly good ; although the play
of all the limbs is so free, the beautiful creature fills a nearly perfect oval.
The most advanced criticism of the day was freely extended to this figure while
Mr. Roberts was modeling it in Paris, both for correction and approval. From
such sagacious eyes as have watched its progress, no serious technical fault
could well escape; and an unusual amount of toilsome study on the side of
the artist and of cramping inconvenience on that of the young women who
successively sat for the part, were required to turn out so finislied a specimen.
On page 56 we give a representation of Mr. Randolph Rogers's marble
figure of Ruth, a statue which made the artist's reputadon, and of which the
repetitions adorn some of the most tasteful American homes. The lovely
Moabite, "heart-sick amid the alien corn," kneels to Boaz on the barley-field
of that good Jew. Across her arm lies a handful of ripened ears, and she
128
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
looks up half desolate and half hopeful, as his words of kindness fall upon her
wistful ear. Her
light tunic falls from
one rounded shoul-
der, as the hand,
outstretched to pick
a stalk of grain, is
arrested in surprise
at the beneficent
invitation. Let not
the visitor, who
pauses in admira-
tion before this fair
marble, forget that
Ruth is especially
interesting as the
only heathen
woman introduced
into the ancestry
of Christ! and that
the scene is Beth-
lehem, where the
stars that Ruth
watched in her fa-
mous night of vigil
were after-
wards re-
placed by
the dazzle
of that mir-
acle- star
which came
"and stood over
the place where the
young child lay."
A very old le-
gend of Normandy
is illustrated in the
powerful and ro-
mantic picture by
Roberto Fontana,
of Milan, copied in
our engraving on
p a g e 1 2 1 . The
painting is called
"The Evocation of
Souls," and repre-
sents an incident in
the myth of Rob-
ert, duke of Nor-
mandy, v.^hose wild
life and irregular
impulses caused
him to be named
"ie Di'abk." Per-
suaded by the
pha n toms
of the wick-
ed nuns,
he is about
to pluck
the magic
bouehfrom
J
the tomb of St. Rosalia, which will give him power to paralyze all who oppose
him, until his better impulse warns him to break the branch and put himself
L. C. G. dc BelU'. Pinx.
On the- Edge of the Forest.
130 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
in the way of salvation. Scribe, wlio wrote the Hbretto on which is based the
"Robert" of Meyerbeer, has not been able to give much coherence to an anti-
quated and inconsistent fable. Robert, the offspring of the fiend and an unhappy
mother, arrives in Palermo, and falls in love with the Princess of Sicily. His
diabolical father, in human disguise, accompanies him, and, after stripping the
young prodigal of wealth, prestige, honor, and every advantage by which he
could reasonably appeal to the princess, incites him to gain her by witchcraft.
The great incantation scene, whose beginning the picture represents, takes place
near the tomb of .Saint Rosalia, that patroness of Sicily whose statue even now
overlooks the Mediterranean from the summit of Mount Pellegrino. The con-
vent bequeathed by Saint Rosalia to the brides of heaven has become the scene
of profanity and wickedness, where renegade nuns offer incense to evil deities.
At the summons of Robert's fiend-father, the wicked dead novices rise from
their tombs, and with bewildering dances lead the infatuated knight to the tomb
of Saint Rosalia and the tempting branch. The preparations for this orgie
occupy the picture of Signor Fontana ; directly these beautiful and alluring
forms, half nuns and half bayaderes, will be mingled with horrible phantoms
and monsters from the witches' sabbath, and awful thunders will peal over the
scene as the magic branch breaks. Robert, however, will not be ultimately
lost; after the accommodating manner of legends, he will be recalled to virtue
by the opportune revelation of his mother's dying testament, bidding him avoid
the seductions of the audacious fiend who, having been robbed of his bride by
heaven, wishes to pluck his son down to an immortality of evil companionship
below. The princess, too, will be saved for Robert, who will marry her with
theatrical pomp at the close of the fourth act, in the cathedral of Palermo.
The unpresentable papa will sink beneath the stage, with a flash of red fire,
and his orphan will live respectably ever after. In the engraving after Fontana,
our readers will admire the graceful grouping of the alluring nuns, the well-
marked hesitancy of Robert, brought on in the distance by the fiend, the weird
beauty of the landscape which represents the cemetery clustered around the
crumbling statue of the sainted Rosalia ; it is a skillful assemblage of graceful
ideas, with just enough of theatrical formality remaining to suggest to opera-
goers that the painter's conception originated in scenic light and music.
"Checkmate next Move," of which we give an elaborate engraving on pages
FINE ART. 131
90 and 91, is a very carefully finished paintintj by John Calcott Horsley, R. A.,
lent to the Exhibition by Thomas Jessop, Esq. Some of our readers may
recollect that in the only large and important exhibition of paintings of the
English school ever previously made in America — the one which was opened
in New York and Philadelphia shordy before the war of secession, — the prin-
cipal attracdon was a very large picture of Prince Henry trying on the crown
of his sleeping father. Mr. Horsley was the author of that painting, as well
as of three contributions to our Centennial, the best of which we select for
illustration. It is a picture which explains itself The costumes indicate the
period of Charles I, and in that epoch, within a beautiful old chamber, before
the troubles brought upon feudalism by Cromwell, occurs a peaceful scene of
aristocratic life. The mistress of the house has "checkmated" her elderly visitor,
who has laid aside his hat and sword to engage in a tranquil game with her
before the fireside; and in the distance, her fair daughter, demurely knitUng at
a work-table, has just as effectually "checkmated" his son, who bends over the
maiden with a rapt air which tells that with him at present all the game is up.
The latter manoeuvre is intelligendy watched by a page, through the cracks of
a screen which incloses him as he polishes the glasses which have entertained
the party. Mr. Horsley has defined the situation with great tact and humor,
while the excessive finish of his painting makes it a curiosity of manipulation.
"The Youthful Hannibal" is a bronze group of an exceptional quality.
After counting with unconquerable dejection the innumerable figures of pretty
lasses and trivial matrons, the offspring of an enervated sentiment, it was
grateful to the visitor to find the department of Italian sculpture distinguished
by a work of so much energy, originality and fire. This spirited production,
which we represent on page 89, is modeled by the Cavaliere Prospero d'Epinay,
of Rome. The lean and agile Hannibal, wearing that tress over the ear with
which certain tropical tribes of antiquity defined the period of youth — and
wearing nothing else — is represented as a child in years though a man in
courage, as he combats with sinewy arms an enormous eagle whose span is
far greater than his own. Without weapons, without defence against the talons
of the bird, he engages in a primidve struggle, striving with both hands to
strangle the neck, and keep the cruel beak away from his eyes. The chevalier
has been successful In every part of his composition : in the eagle, the general
132
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
sense of roughened feathers, in the highest dishevelment, flutters over the whole
impression of the action, but does not conceal the lines of power and fierce-
134 THE INTERNATIONAL EN H 1 11 1 T 1 N, 1 8 76.
ness in the mad bird's attack ; the agitated feathers, skillfully .cast in the metal
with lavish undercutting, form a background to the lithe limbs of the boy, with
young lean muscles in the highest tension, and a fine proud posture. The head
is full of character and promise. In the infancy of races, nothing is more
common than these hand-to-hand encounters of defenceless man with Nature
in all her armor. Millions of young savages have met the fierce creatures of
the wilderness with this perfection of courage, and with this pitiful disadvan-
tage ; a great many must fail ; those are the fortunate, the elite, who emerge
from the struggle and become heroes.
As it to show that nothing in nature is beyond the powers of Italian
texture-carving, another sculptor sends an eagle in marble to compete with
d'Epinay's eagle of bronze. Of course the difficulty of undercutting is still
greater in stone than in metal, yet Signor Innocente Pandiani, a Milanese artist,
shows an "Eagle and Turkey" (engraved by us on page 116), which seem
made up of snowy feathers that a breath would cause to vibrate. Those of
the carrier-pigeon in the "Telegram of Love" (page 32), and of the plumes in
"I'Africaine" (page 40), as well as the hair of the latter figure and of several
others, show the extreme ingenuity of Italian carvers in suggesting texture
without unnecessary tool-work. Pandiani's pair of enormous birds is imposing
and artistic ; the turkey, who has had his own days of importance, and has
spread his suit of scale-armor valiantly in many a morning's sunshine, now
meets his master ; he raises his head rather in appeal than in resistance ; the
duel is too unequal, and the eagle's kindest act will be the stroke that deprives
the poor carpet-knight of consciousness.
The winter scene which is engraved on page 129 is from a painting by
M. de Bellee, of Paris, which attracted attention by its fidelity to nature and
harsh but wholesome truth. The raw, inhospitable aspect of a French farm in
winter is touched to perfection. "There is but one cloud in the sky" (to use
the words of Currer Bell), "but it spreads from pole to pole." The thatched
roofs of the grange are covered with an even coat of soft clinging snow, and
the rare passers-by trudge sullenly through the white sponge of the foot-path.
Overhead the trees, with the beautiful mystery of their branch-work stripped
and revealed, float upward through the dim sky into infinite reticulation, like
seaweed in an aquarium. Here is not the wholesome, lusty vigor of a rich
FINE ART.
I3S
powdering storm such as is depicted in Whittier's "Snowbound," but a damp,
cliilling, sullen imprisonment of life-forces, such as makes winter the bane of
warm climates. The smokeless chimneys, indicating that the farmer's wife has
taken no pains to supply an antidote to the depressing weather, is another
character-touch, and indicates the helpless misery in which French and Italian
peasants live out the cold season.
The German school furnishes an interesting and spirited scene in the com-
position of "Luther Intercepted," by Count Von Harach, of Berlin, of which
we give the engraving on page 103. The incident, which at first sight looks
dangerous for Luther, is really the means ot his salvation. It shows the
means taken by the Elector of Saxony to protect, by a show of violence, the
outspoken and uncompromising reformer. After the Diet of Worms, April 26,
1 52 1, Luther left that z\\.y, having been condemned by Charles V and a majority
of the Council. In a forest traversed by Martin and his companion, their wagon
was stopped by armed horsemen in masks, who conveyed the reformer to the
mountain casde of Wartburg. In this inaccessible retreat, safe from all moles-
tation, the immortal thinker wrote those tracts which revoludonized Europe,
causing hundreds of monks to renounce their vows and enter into the bonds
of matrimony, and shaking the authority of the Pope with those sturdy argu-
ments which still form the bulwark of Protestantism. Count Harach's picture
well represents the confusion, the passion, the tempestuous energy of an unex-
pected attack. The intrepid reformer betrays no alarm, although to him the
rencounter must for the moment seem fatal. The cross-lights and dappled
shadows darting through the noble forest seem to add to the impression of
contradiction, confusion and cross purposes created by the peculiar circumstances
of the ambush.
Another Protestant subject is furnished by a pupil of the Munich school,
Mr. G. F. Folingsby, in the fine composition seen on pages 106 and 107. Mr.
Folingsby, though exhibiting as a true disciple of Piloty and the Munich nursery,
is a German by adopdon rather than by origin, having been born under the
skies of Britain. In his excellent group we see the well-ordered balance, the
stately dignity, the classical decorum, of the academy founded by Cornelius.
Lady Jane and her duenna form a monumental pair on the left, the lines of
their drapery sweeping towards the centre, while their calm sobriety is balanced
136
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
by the single
figure of the
prelate, chanccl-
lant, tottering,
baffled, and
worsted, and
seeming to re-
volve on itself
in the despair
of moral defeat.
The scene
throws up into
beautiful light
the fragile firm-
ness of that
poor girl who
was queen but
of a day, yet
empress of eter-
nal truth. No
arguments, per-
suasions or
menaces could
shake that grasp
of holy convic-
tion which was
her stay amid
the abandon-
ment of men and
the prospect of
approaching
death. It is well
known that no
Vanity.
weapons than most of her contemporaries,
efforts were
spared by the
Catholic party
to shake her
Protestant faith,
and secure to
the Romish
Church the
jewel of her
beautiful soul.
Day by day, as
she endured the
confinement
that preceded
her execution,
some emissary
of Rome, Bish-
op Gardiner or
the Abbot
Takenham, dis-
turbed her pri-
vacy and at-
tempted to
wrest her faith
from Protest-
antism by argu-
ments, flatteries
and menaces of
eternal perdi-
tion. But the
fair bride, better
' "" armed even
with literary
successfully resisted her opponents
FINE ART.
m
by reference to the Scriptures or to the early fathers of Christianity. The
beautiful picture of Mr. Folingsby shows her playing her part of a feminine
Luther before the embodied power of the Papacy, with an authority made
awful by the certainty of swiftly-approaching death.
Another product of German art, by F. Reichert, of Dresden, is devoted
to celebrating a sister craft which shares with that of painting the privilege of
charming and enlightening the world. In the composition entided "The First
Tie \ uiKT r n
Proof" (page 132), we are shown the nervous moment when printing was to
be judged for success or unsuccess in its destined task of supplanting the pen.
In the centre of a group of three, between the workman who furnishes the
mechanic power and the aristocratic man of letters who decides the victory,
Gutenberg draws out from the press the first sheet made eloquent with printers'
ink. The fate of civilization is in his hand. Beside him, holding a stately
written missal, is the representation of the old order of things, the patient
schoolman, whose clerks bend their backs over the weary desk, and elaborate
x^r*^'
-iVi
HO THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
in a course of months the work which the new agent will surpass in an hour.
To the inventor, all is yet doubtful. Will the printed page take the place of
the vellum manuscript? The old scholar at his elbow doubts it still. But
within the breast of the innovator speaks that inward monitor which convinces
him that the novel power is the stronger, and that, in the words of a modern
writer of eloquence, ''this will overcome that" — 'Vtr/ tueni ceia."
Shakespeare having created the forest of Arden, that ideal no-man's-land
where the impossible is the practicable, we are under obligations to Mr. John
Pettie, of London, Royal Academician, to have realized for the eye one of the
fantastic scenes of the sj'lvan republic. His picture, of which we give an
excellent steel-plate engraving, shows the interview between Touchstone, a
court-clown just wise enough to be spoiled, and Audrey, a peasant girl just
silly enough to be honest. The love-scene between these well-mated grown
children is of the truest pastoral-comical : —
Touchstone. Come apace, good Audrey, I will fetch up your goats, Audrey. And how, Audrey? am I the man
yet ? Doth my simple feature content you ?
Audrey. Your features ! Lord warrant us ! what features ?
Touchstone. I am here with thee and thy goats, xs the most capricious poet, honest Ovid, was among the Goths. . . .
Truly, I would the gods had made thee poetical !
Audrey. I do not know what poetical is: is it honest in deed and word? Is it a true thing?
Golden proverbs of similar delicious un-wisdom drop every moment from
the lips of the unconscious Audrey, as she stands for all time the embodiment
of rustic idiocy, with the deep forest of Arden for a background. Clasping
her shepherd's wand in both hands, and looking straight into the wicked eyes
of the jester with smiling vacuity of intellect, she lets fall such kindred pearls
of speech as: "Well, I am not fair, and therefore I pray the gods make me
honest;" or, "I am not a slut, although I thank the gods I am foul." Shakes-
peare's most impermissible, wrong-headed puns — goats and Goths, capricious and
capra — stud the lines, still wild with the impulse of Rosalind's tameless talk.
Touchstone, brought up in palaces, puzzles the poor shepherdess with his
pedantic follies and literary allusions. We see him bowing before her, courtly,
mocking and malicious, his fingers on his chin, his bauble under his arm. Mr.
Pettie has succeeded in making more real for us one of the inimitably realistic
scenes of Shakespearean comedy.
FINE ART.
141
The drama of life in the Elizabethan age has seldom been better depicted
than by Leslie — first in the "May-day," of which we give an eno-ravino- on
•page 95, and afterwards in many an illustration of the Shakespearean plays.
This artist was, in fact, a sort of pioneer in that style of romantic paintino-,
with strict attention to historical costume and accessories, now so much in voo-ue.
His "May-day in the time of Queen Elizabeth" was generously lent to the
American Exhibition by its owner, John Naylor, Esq., of Lei^hton Hall. It was
painted in 1821, the year in which Leslie was made Associate of the Royal
Academy ; it won him great honor at the Exhibition of that season, as well as
the pleasure of an acquaintance with Sir Walter Scott, who called twice at the
studio to see it, and suggested the group of archers shooting at the butts. It
went to the Academy with the following extract as a motto : —
"At Paske began our Morrice, and ere Pentecost our May:
Then Robin Hood, litell John, Friar Tuck and Marian deftly play,
And Lord and Ladie gang till Kirke, with lads and lasses gay."
Of this picture and the incident of Sir Walter's calling, Leslie writes thus
to his sister, Miss Eliza Leslie, the Philadelphia magazinist : " My friends are
sanguine as to its success, and I myself consider it the best thing I have done.
Sir Walter Scott has been lately in London, and came twice to see it when in
progress ; the first visit I had taken the liberty to request, but the second,
which you may believe gratified me not a little, was of his own proposing. He
found fault with nothing in my picture, but suggested the introduction of a few
archers, a hint of which I took advantage." The principal pair of figures in
the foreground are a provincial beauty from a country manor-house, and a
fantastic dandy of the day. This affected gentleman is meant to be a Euphuist,
that is, a pedant fully capable of talking in the style of John Lilly's " Euphues
and his England," a work of whose philological influence we are told by Blount,
"that beauty at court which could not parley Euphuisme was as little regarded
as she which now there speaks not French." The country belle timidly accepts
the Euphuist's hand for the dance, hardly comprehending the overstrained
phrases (like those of Holofernes in "Love's Labour's Lost") with which he
solicits the honor. At the right hand stands a proud dowager of the period,
accompanied by her jester, who slyly draws the figure of an ass on the buckler
of a man-at-arms. Around the may-pole circles the train of maskers, Robin
142 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8j6.
Hood and Maid Marian, Little John and Friar Tuck, not forgetting Hobby-
horse and Dragon. Behind the pole is the bower containing the Queen of
May. At the e.xtreme left, watching the dance, is the black-robed schoolmaster,
his bundle of birches forgotten in his hand, and his sour face brightened with
a temporary smile. The landscape, which is very beautiful, bears a larger pro-
portion to the scope of the picture than was usual with the artist. Leslie
followed West, as the second gift made by this city to the art-circles of England.
He was the son of Robert Leslie, who came to Philadelphia from Maryland in
1786; himself born in 1794, he went to England in 181 1, returned to America
to take the position of drawing- teacher at West Point, which he filled in 1833
and 1844, '^''"^1 t\\i~in went back to painting in London, where he died on
May 5, 1859.
The grand old Dutch school of the seventeenth century was revealed to
the visitors at our International Fair by a series of lour large copies of its
masterpieces, which an Amsterdam artist, S. Altmann, was obliging enough to
send over, in addition to some original subjects of his own. Rembrandt's
"Master's of the Drapers," Van der Heist's "Banquet of the Civil tiuard," and
Franz Hals's " Masters of the Kloveniers" were accordingly seen in imposing
repetitions the same size as the originals ; and many visitors of limited oppor-
tunities, whose idea of a Dutch picture was that of something e.xcessively
diminutive and highly wrought, were amazed at the scale, the freedom, the
sketchy expressiveness, the photographic reality of those grand pages of history.
Besides the three we have just mentioned, the artist dispatched his copy of the
masterpiece of Paul Potter, "The Young Bull," the jjride of the Hague; of
this we give on page 137 a spirited little study, reversed from left to right for
the convenience of the engraver. The young genius who achieved this mas-
terly work painted it in 1647, when only twenty-two years old; and he died
seven years after, leaving the world to wonder what he would have become if
his life had been prolonged to the usual span. This precocious lad found time
to paint over a hundred pictures of mark, and to leave behind him tour books
of sketches, which the Berlin cabinet of engravings retains in their original
boar-skin bindings. His subjects are animals and shepherds, suitably set in a
flat, sunny Holland landscape. The reader who consults our engraving of
"The Young Bull" must remember that the original portrait is about the size
FINE ART.
143
Enrico Braga Sc
C/eopafrj.
of nature, and endowed with an energy and vehemence that makes it pleasanter
to meet, for nervous people and ladies, than the live subject would be.
144 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIB ITION, i8j6.
Enrico Braga, an industrious sculptor of Milan, sent over so great a
number of works of uncontested originality, that he can well afford to have
the master-motive of his "Cleopatra" (page 143) assigned where it belongs —
to the painting, namely, by the French artist, Gerome. The posture of the
queen, and of the servant ApoUodorus, are substantially the same as in the
picture, whose statuesque grouping was so peculiarly adapted for the purposes
of sculpture, that a French bronze-founder, as well as our Italian artist in marble,
has produced a repetition of it in statuary. Gerome's painting is now owned
by a California gentleman ; and as he sent no canvas to the Exhibition, we are
glad to find a reHection of his skill thus more or less directly displayed. The
incident is that where Cleopatra, being at war with her brother Ptolemy Dio-
nysius, had herself conveyed to Julius Ca:sar, then in Alexandria; she was
brought safely to the dictator through the armies ol her foes, concealed in a
roll of tapestry which was offered as a tribute to Caesar, and which ApoUo-
dorus carried in and opened at his feet. This contrasted pair preserves the
posture of Gerome's group — the slave, who parts the drapery, so supple and
submissive ; the girl, standing, and leaning on his shoulder as on a piece of
furniture, already so queenly, confident and regal. Gerome's is one of the few
French pictures celebrated in English poetry; in "Fifine at the Fair," Mr.
Browning strings a half-score ot verses in honor ot the painter's heroine,
beginning : —
"See Cleopatra! bared, th' entire and sinuous wealth
O' the shining shape!"
and dwelling appreciatively on the successive beauties of the form, " traced
about by jewels," and perfect from head to foot in plastic elegance —
"Yet, o'er that white and wonder, a Soul's predominance
I' the head, so high and haught — except one thievish glance
From back of oblong eye, intent to count the slain !"
Guarnerio, whose " Forced Prayer" we have already represented, sent also
a group of two figures, called "Vanity," whose modish grace throws into strong
contrast the regal calm of such a work as the " Cleopatra." We present an
engraving on page 136. The attempt here is not so much to secure the sym-
pathy of the spectator by depth or subtlety of conception, as to dazzle him by
reckless difficulties of manipulation and by the conquered suavity of kneaded
FINE ART.
145
marble. A ball-room belle, whose flesh seems made of swans' down rather
than stone, is winding a necklace around her breast, and admiring the jewels
in a mirror which a little girl holds admiringly before her. Here we have
Signor Guarnerio, whose range is as wide as Garrick's was in acting, at the
opposite pole
from his classical
style, as revealed
in the "Aruns
shooting Camil-
la." Every touch
in the "Vanity"
is softened in
consonance with
a boudoir sub-
ject, and the
group is rococo
— luscious, over-
tender and ener-
vated. The as-
tonishing skill
which can thus
make Carrara
look as flexible as
whipped cream,
we willingly con-
cede; but we con-
sider that rpany
such successes as
F- Barsaffhi, Sc
Vanity.
this would lead
Art to a state of
effeminate nerve-
lessness.
In the Nine-
teenth Room of
the Art-Annex,
marked simply
with a contempt-
uous "Unknown"
in their cata-
logues, many vis-
itors may have
noticed a statue
ot rural grace
and originality,
which they will
recognize from
our sketch on
page 105. This
image of "The
Young Grape-
gatherer," which
figured if we
mistake not at the Vienna Exposition before showing itself at ours, is the work
of another Italian artist, Signor Giulio Branca. The posture is entirely uncon-
ventional ; the youthful vintner, retaining in liis left hand a cluster he has
gathered, reaches the other hand to the highest part of the trellis within his
reach, with a gesture which stiffens out his whole figure to a perpendicular
straight line. He wears the simple breeches and camicia of a lazzarone of
I
148 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Naples, and his liead liangs away back between his shoulder-blades with the
blessed flexibility of youth and a nation of acrobats. An unusual amount of
supporting marble, cleverly shredded into grape-leaves and bark, is allowed by
the sculptor to remain beside his figure. Something unconventional and tearless
about this aspiring youth makes us wish we could have seen more of the work
of Signor Branca.
The story of Francesca di Rimini, the most touching in all the pages of
Dante, is interpreted by Cabanel in the picture we engrave on page 113. The
event which lent an extraordinary depth of tenderness even to the tenderness
of Alighieri was one well known to him among the traditions of his home, and
flowed into his verse with the lava heat of personal sorrow. Francesca, daughter
of Guido de Polenta, lord of Ravenna, was given in marriage to a harsh, ill-
favored bridegroom, Lanciotto, son of Malatesta, lord of Rimini. His brother
Paolo, unhappily for himself and for all, was graceful, gallant and accomplished,
and while yet a young bride the fair Francesca, with Paolo, was put to death
by the jealous husband. F"rancesca's inimitably-told love scene, consequent upon
reading, in the romance, of Lancelot and Guinevere's kiss, we give in Dante's
numbers as translated by Byron :—
" We read one day for pastime, seated nigh.
Of Lancelot, how love possessed him too;
We were alone, quite unsuspiciously;
But oft our eyes met, and our cheeks in hue
All o'er discolored by that reading were.
But one thing only wholly us o'erthrew;
"When we read the long-sighed for smile of her
To be thus kissed by such devoted lover.
He, who from me shall be divided ne'er,
Kissed my mouth, trembling in the act all over !
Accursed be the book and he who wrote !
That day no further leaf we did uncover!"
Cabanel represents a close, richly-carved and decked chamber in the castle
of Rimini. A reading-desk is at the left — at the right a curtained door, through
which Lanciotto, still grasping his reeking sword, looks upon what he has done.
The young bride sinks back from the lectern, the book of Lancelot falling
from her fingers ; and Paolo, his hand pressed upon the wound that has trans-
fixed them both, withdraws his arm from her neck, and rolls to the floor at her
FINE ART 149
feet. The story is complete, and painted with pathos and eloquence. We
believe that doubt has been cast upon the authenticity of the picture exposed
at the Centennial : a young American artist, familiar with the replica or duplicate
of the painting- preserved in France, made his suspicions known through the
columns of the Evening Post. Our own impression on examining the picture
(which was not contributed by the artist, but lent in good faith by the owner,
Mrs. A. E. Kidd) , was contrary to that of Mr. Bridgman. The touch appeared
to us to be in the style of M. Cabanel, but not his best style. French artists
prepare duplicate examples of a great many of their works, sometimes of the
same size as the original, sometimes differing in that respect ; and we are sorry
to say, that when the rcpliche are intended to be sold at a great distance, they
are not always careful to put their very best powers in action. This concession
made, which does not forbid the painter to have kept by him another and even
a better picture of Francesca, we believe the reader may feel that he is enjoying
a veritable work of the author of the "Venus" and "Florentine Poet."
The position of P. T. Rothermel in American art is somewhat anomalous.
He is a colorist, insisting on being a historical painter. We would have him
saved from all the drudgery of inventing realistic situations, and set to paint
color-dreams divorced as much as possible from actuality. Born with the subtle
sense of tone-harmony of an Eugene Delacroix, he is not much more accurate
than Delacroi.x in the pedantry ot anatomic detail, the rectitude of architectural
and constructive lines. Capable of flinging together lovely groups, sumptuous
costumes, and contrasted flesh-tints in the manner of the late painter Diaz, he
is pained and puzzled, as Diaz would have been, when a perverse and logical
generation asks him for the historic warrant of just such a group, the justifica-
tion of this or that expression, gesture or attitude. It has always seemed to
us that when a great colorist is born to art, the world should be thankful for
the rare and exquisite boon, and allow him that isolation and freedom from
care which will keep his gift pure. In practical America, a color-poet has to
be his own man-of-all-work, vexing himself with the hard drudgery of drawing,
expression, dramatic propriety, and historical truth — details which he might be
often saved from by the labors of the commonest illustrating draughtsman. He
is like a musical genius forced to write the libretti of his own operas. In
countries more finely cultured, such a poet is allowed to revel in his proper
I50 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
talent, and feats outside of it, or faults in other departments, are not scruti-
nized. We have heard Rothermel criticised, and even with acerbity ; artists of
the Delacroix order especially invite the animadversions of wiseheads ; but we
confess, on those occasions, the party we pitied was the critic, not Rothermel.
What is certain is, that when he has sent works to the Paris saloft, they have
been hung in conspicuous places as noticeable acquisitions. When in Rome,
about a dozen years ago, his rich color-dreams were highly appreciated. Even
distant and luxurious Russia, true child of Asia in an inborn and rapid appre-
ciation of harmonies of tint, owns and prizes a considerable number of his
paintings, selected in his Italian studio by Muscovite travelers of taste. A New
York connoisseur and expert said to us, "The secrets of composition, the balance
of light and shade, the effective contrast of tints, which other artists try for all
their lives and miss, Rothermel gets at once, without trying." This artist was
represented at Philadelphia by his enormous "Gettj'sburg," a Veronese-study
of grays; by his "Christian Martyrs," a series of exquisite stains and lovely
flesh-tints on a life-like scale; and by small cabinet gems like "The Trial of
Sir Henry Vane," lent by its owner, Mr. Claghorn, and in our opinion the
painter's clief d'oeuvre. We give a steel-plate copy of this admirable work,
which for once is as perfect in dramatic sentiment as in color and chiaroscuro.
The subject is all the more interesting to Americans since Vane was for some
time a resident of New England, and narrowly missed being made a Colonial
governor. The splendid energy of his self-justification, when brought to trial
after the restoration of Charles II on the charge of treason, yields to the painter
one of the most striking situations in all the history of the martyrs of popular
rights. "His spirited defence served as an excuse for his execution," says Mr.
J. R. Green, in his "Short History of the English People." In the shameless
court of sycophants and jesters, the paid retainers of Versailles and effeminate
apes of Paris, Vane thundered with the eloquence of an age that had gone
before, the age of Pym and Hampden and Cromwell. Evidently this was a
tongue that must be stilled. "He is too dangerous a man to let live," said
Charles, with characteristic coolness, "if we can safely put him out of the way."
The masterly simplicity and dignity, the richness and beauty of Mr. Rothermel's
composition, worthy of the artist and the occasion, are pardy revealed by our
engraving; the judicious contrast, arrangement and relief of the figures, the
"nr[Trf II il 1 llill
152 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIB ITION, 1876.
dark splendor of lig'ht and shade, are indicated ; but the painting glows with
a depth and vibration of color and living light which the burin cannot translate.
If but a single work were left to stake an artist's reputation and a national
fame upon, we wish it might be Rothermel's " Harry Vane."
Our readers may by this time have asked, with some little degree of doubt,
why so many Italian statues were described in this commentary. We have
alluded in earlier pages to specimens from the atelier of Guarnerio, Caroni,
Tantardini, Pozzi, Corti, Pandiani, Rosetti, Barzaghi, and Braga ; we have illus-
trated the masterpiece of D'Epinay (the "Young Hannibal") — the work of an
artist who, though born in Mauritius, is by residence and education a Roman ;
Branca's "Un Monello di Campagna," or " Youthful Grape-Gatherer," has traveled
from the Vienna Exhibition to grace the American World's Fair and our pages.
But few of these artists were ever previously heard of by our untraveled
readers. We are about to speak of other sculptors of Italy. To account for
such a seeming preference of one especial nation in a single branch of art, we
may properly suggest that the Italians did us the honor to show us a much
fuller exhibit of die national sculpture than did any other nation. It was there-
fore our duty, in order to give this exhibit its relative emphasis, to represent
its masterpieces in proportion. Besides the ambition, so flattering to America,
of these artists to be fully represented in Columbus's New World, as the
inheritors of the peerless sculpture of antiquity, and the possessors of those
immemorial quarries that "teem with human form," there were accidental or
peculiar incentives added to this patriotic motive. The city where our Expo-
sition was held happened to have an Italian consul, Signor Viti, who has always,
like his father before him, felt for Italian sculpture the interest of a connoisseur
and a patron.
For another instance, there had happened to be a South American Exhi-
bition just preceding our own, from which the large contribution of Roman and
Milanese marbles naturally overflowed to ours. When to these circumstances
was added the genial determination of the Italians to favor America with a
royal display, a great emigration of the marble people of Latium was insured.
The cornucopia of old Rome, filled with stone men and women, was imme-
diately overturned upon America. Our cordial comrade, the public, having
listened to what we had to say of several of these shining ones, will please
154 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
hear of a lew more of the white visitors. We resume our discourse on ItaHan
art, taking for text our latest-engraved specimens — the steel-plates of Magni's
"Reading Girl" and Rosetti's "Steam," and the wood-cuts of Barzaghi's "Vanity"
(page 145), Guarnerio's "Vanity" (page 140) — an identity of titles showing how
the greatest minds tend alike towards the preacher's vanitas vanitateni — and the
"Apotheosis of Washington," by the same Guarnerio, whose "Forced Prayer"
is also to be seen on page 48. These selections rather apdy define certain
interesting tendencies in Italian sculpture; the "Washington," by its peculiar
treatment, indicates a school enamored of old classic traditions, yet willing to
treat them with a picturesque and decorative detail and chiaroscuro ; the world-
famous "Reading Girl" shows modern genre art exquisitely chastened by a
remnant of the old classic reserve and severity; and the figure of "Steam,"
with the two illustrations of "Vanity," exhibits that characteristically modern
boudoir art which is the peculiar invention, and in some of its instances the
pride, of contemporary Italian carvers.
Boudoir sculpture, however, though it now shows inventive touches that are
genuinely recent, is no new thing in Italy. What are Bernini's "St. Longinus,"
and Mochi's "St. Veronica," though they support the very dome of St. Peter's,
but boudoir statues? What do they display, in their pretty flutter and drawing-
room grace, but the mannerism of polite society, placed where we should look
to see the religious sincerity of nature? How does Bernini treat the Greek
myth of Daphne but in the spirit of a seventeenth-century drawing-room ? It
is a glitter of dimpled flesh and curling laurel-leaves, as brilliant, and as bereft
of true emotion, as, for instance, a poem of Dryden's on some classic subject.
It must be understood that since the day of Bernini, himself the very successor
of Michael Angelo, Italian sculpture has been constantly characterized by an
endeavor to play audacious tricks with the marble, or — more accurately — to
develop modern sculpture away from the style of antique sculpture just as
freely as modern painting has been developed away from the style of Greek
painting.
From what influence, then, do the gay, trifling, over-graceful works of
Rosetti and Barzaghi and Guarnerio — the "Steam" and "Electricity," the childish
and the maidenly "\'anity," the "Washington" — proceed? They do not partake
of the great classic movement of Italian sculpture. They cannot be traced to
FINE ART. 155
the influence of Giovanni Dupre, of Pio Fedi, of Canova. Those artists have
given little to the world that is not distinctly classical in spirit — a careful
endeavor to continue antique sculpture in its own proper line. But Italy, since
the wild and reprehensible inventions of Bernini, has ever nourished a line of
romantic sculpture, running along with the classical line, and setting its traditions
at naught. From the time of Bernini, do we say? Nay, from long before.
Already, in his gates for the Baptistery at Florence, Ghiberti had attempted the
fascinating, dangerous experiment of making the chisel do the work of the
brush, and vying with the art of painting in the elaborate luxury of its com-
positions, the narrative eloquence of its scenes, and its deftly calculated light
and shade. To see the daring originality of Ghiberti and Bernini produced to
its most startling limit, we may go to the family chapel of the dukes of Sangro
at Naples, the "Santa Maria della Pieta de' Sangri." Here, in a series of
works produced about the year 1766, we see the prototypes of all the amazing
devices which astonish us in the modern Italian marble. A statue of "Modesty,"
having the features of the mother of Raimondo di Sangro, is the original of
all the "vailed statuary" — the "Vailed Vestals," the "Vailed Brides," the "Bashful
Maidens," of the Italian studios. It represents the lady swathed in a long
drapery, with the features of the face and the body showing through the
apparently diaphanous material. This is by an eighteenth-century artist named
Corradini. In the same church is the "Man in the Net of Sin," or "Vice
Undeceived," by Oueiroli. The meshes of an actual marble net, surrounding
the body of the father of Raimondo, are cut out with incredible patience, knot
by knot and thread by thread, until the stone of Carrara actually stands out
transparently in the air, reduced to a reticulated cordage, around the human
form within. Another artist, Sammartino, has adorned the church with a figure
of the Dead Christ, lying on a splendid bed of Italian upholstery, and covered
with a sheet, whose adhesion to the skin by the sweat of death is mimicked
with fearful ingenuity, and the whole edifice is filled with these strange inven-
tions, including, over the door, a marble sculpture of a Di Sangro emerging
from an iron sculpture of a tomb. These carvers have in fact amused them-
selves with playing upon the character of marble as punsters play upon the
character of a word ; the more the essential sense of the thing is contradicted,
the prouder they seem to be. It is hardly wonderful that the compatriots of
156
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
p. Guarnrria. Si
Apotheosis of Washington .
these clever marble-workers should sometimes seek to continue the same line
of doubtful triumphs; and hence the visitors to the London World's Fair of
FINE ART. 157
1862 were greeted with the wonderful group by Monti, "The Sleep of Death
and Dream of Life," wherein the marble represented to perfection the confusion
of a thin and transparent entanglement of drapery.
Thus the peculiar sculpture from Italy, which surprised so many visitors as
something entirely novel, with its particularized eye-lashes, flying hair and simu-
lated fabrics, we have shown to be the result of a whole succession of eminent
national artists — Ghiberti (who chiseled feathers and palm-trees), Bernini (whose
Daphne is a sculptured laurel-tree), the decorators of the Pieta church in Naples,
and Monti.
The national sculpture was in fact committing itself to this rococo style,
when Canova, a man of sincere but weak classic feeling, introduced a counter-
acting tendency towards the antique spirit. If he had been stronger, he would
have left a deeper stamp; but he was one of the false purists, one of the
pseudo-Augustuses of the first part of this century, the Wests, Davids and
Raphael Mengs. Nor did he ever have the advantage of studying from the
very best models — which, whatever the Italians and the guide-books may say,
are not to be found in Italy. When he saw the Elgin marbles late in life, he
declared that if it were not too late he would radically change his style. He
belonged to the day when the Apollo Belvedere and Venus de' Medici were
praised and sonneteered as the summit of excellence, and when the Theseus,
Illyssus and Venus of Milo had not made their impression upon the schools.
But all this, tedious in length as it is, is but our introduction to the state-
ment of the condition of Italian sculpture at the present epoch, which is one
of revolution. The statement will be short, however, though the introduction
is prolix.
Take, as a very singular instance, Guarnerio, whose "Forced Prayer,"
"Maidenly Vanity" and "Apotheosis of Washington" we show by means of
engravings. Guarnerio is an art-centaur; he is half classic and lialf rococo;
he is part Bernini and part Canova. Thus in the single exhibit he made at
Philadelphia, he showed side by side the statue of "Aruns killing Camilla,"
which was as cold, correct and pseudo-Greek as it could possibly be, and the
"Washington," which was enveloped in a flutter of drapery and a cloud of
hair-powder like any portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud. In the "Aruns," the veins,
the creases and wrinkles, the accidents of humanity, were omitted, so, in an
4ppl
to a Casual Hard.
i6o THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
ultra-antique spirit, was the hair ; everything but the grand, broad masses of
the body was neglected, and the figure altogether was so intensely Greek that
it was Egyptian ! It was what Benjamin West and Louis David would have
made if they had been sculptors. The Washington, alongside, was a fl)'-away
work, full of merit in its way, but the offspring of a different sentiment. Who
could tell which represented the real conviction of Guarnerio as a sculptor, the
rococo "Washington," or the severe "Aruns"? The Americans, by-the-bye, did
not appreciate the statue of their chieltain, because the lower part of the bust
was finished off with a gigantic eagle. The more ignorant ones surmised that
it must be "Washington on a Lark!" It was hardly fair, however, to make
an Italian artist suffer for the average American's superb ignorance of things
classic and traditional. Guarnerio had seen a hundred times antique represen-
tations ot the apotheosis, in which the emperor or hero was borne aloft by the
eagle of Jove. To cite a single e.xample, which our reader can easily consult,
there is an "Apotheosis of Homer" engraved in Winckelmann, from a silver
vase of Hcrculaneum, in which the poet likewise emerges from the spread
wings of a great eagle; it ma\' be seen in plate 21 of the Paris edition of
1789. To an Italian like our sculptor, familiar from infancy with this old author-
ized form of representing immortality, it was but an accepted use of metaphor,
and the adaptation of the American national bird for aquila yovis was graceful
and poetic. Leaving out of the question this complaint of the inappropriate-
ness of the symbol, in which we shall rather betray ignorance than penetration,
we may contemplate the "Washington" simply as a work of portraiture. In
this respect, then, we cannot refuse the sculptor very high praise ; the face, as
we have heard enemies of the statue acknowledge, is singularly good — one of
the best idealizations of the cast taken by Houdon that sculpture has ever
furnished; the expression is paternal, benignant; the attitude, with one hand
showing the Constitution on which we rest our liberties, is well conceived, and
shows Washington as the peacemaker, in which the warrior is merged.
Guarnerio's "Maidenly Vanity" is a work which we select rather to show
the possible extremes to which a school may go, than because we think it one
of the most beautiful, or one of the noblest, pieces of Italian carving. In this
instance the key-note of "Vanity," appropriate to the subject, is struck so per-
fectly that it reflects upon the general attractiveness of the group. The subject
FINE ART.
i6i
is vain, and the work is vain. In the opera, Marguerite adorns herself with
the jewels, and translates their light and color to music as she regards her
Fleeting Time.
pretty face in the glass. The present heroine is rather the chief figure of a
bath-room scene; this fair Hesh seems to have been just polished with the
i62 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
sponge and the napkin in order to relieve with proper effect the gHttering
hardness of the gems. It is a pure effort at Titianesque flesh-painting, in stone.
But, from the point of view at which the sculptor's aims were directed, how
perfect his success ! Given a purely boudoir subject — a topic meant to please
sight as one of the five senses, and not as the key of the brain and the under-
standing — how well the caressing chisel has understood its task ! No snow
seems softer than those breadths of moulded marble ; the dimples, the swelling
contours, the soft pressure of flesh against flesh, are expressed with bewildering
subtlety. At the damsel's feet, even lazier than herself, leans a youthful assistant
with a mirror, a promising novice in this religion of the toilette. A pretty
future, forsooth, seems to open out before this tiny disciple, so early instructed
in the innermost secrets of the rites of Vanity! The litde ministrant tends with
willing service upon the caprices of the riper beauty. But, as we contemplate
the group and enter into its spirit, she hardly seems to tend alone; for all the
sylphs of the toilet, the little modish beings whom Pope imagined around the
fair form of Arabella Fermor, seem to be circling about and glancing in the air.
"Haste then, ye spirits, to your charge repair!
Her fluttering fan be Zephyretta's care;
The 'drops' to thee, Brillante, we consign.
Anil Momentilla, let the watch he thine."
So completely does Guarnerio change his touch with the style he proposes
to illustrate, that we may notice his inconsistency in treating the iris of the eye,
among his various contributions Artists are divided about the proper rendering
of this important organ, the crucial difficulty of a statue. The purists in sculp-
ture usually treat the ball according to its actual shape, without noticing the
marked difference made by the iris and pupil ; such was the habit in the oldest
and strictest period of Greek art. The romanticists treat the organ as it would
be treated in a picture, using various devices to represent the blackness of the
pupil, the ring of the iris, and the little spark of reflected light which gives
intelligence to the organ. Guarnerio, now a purist and now a romanticist, treats
the eye of his "Aruns" as a plain ball, while in the "Washington," "Vanity"
and other figures, he uses the most ingenious devices to deepen the shadow
of the eyelashes, to sink the profundity of the pupil, and to make the glance
resemble that speaking one which we find in a good picture. We appreciate
FINE ART.
163
the skill, but we cannot but be struck with the apparent want of conviction on
the part of the sculptor. It is as if a painter should paint to-day in the style
CVi. LandelU. Pi
A Fellah Woman.
of Raphael, and to-morrow in the style of Watteau, according to the orders
he received.
i64 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
The fact is, the present art-generation is in a state of revolt in Italy. The
influence of Canova, whose right hand and chisel are presented to the worship
of the faithful in Venice, is palpably dying out. The last of his imitators was
Fedi, whose group of Polixena is installed in the public piazza of Florence, as
if worthy to share the same sun-ray that strikes upon the works of Michael
Angelo and Donatello. Dupre is too chastened and pure in style to suggest
the pagan animalism of the Greeks, and therefore can hardly be called a
classicist; but he does not belong either to the romantic school — the color of
Rubens and the Venetians is never suggested by his carving. His "Pieta," like
Raphael's Sistine Madonna, is a work of pure holiness, transcending all schools,
and breathing an atmosphere of its own. Being an ideal, and therefore classical
subject, however, its intense life makes it seem realistic and " romantic." His
monument to Cavour, being a subject of realistic character, a portrait-study,
seems by contrast somewhat classic and severe ; thus an artist who soars above
schools seems in turn, by the force of contrast, and the sheer difference of his
work from what the conventional spectator looks for, to lean to the opposite
style. The great inventor of the modern pictorial, or romantic, or realistic
school in contemporary Italy, is Professor Vincenzio Vela, of Milan, a pupil of
Cacciatori. His chisel was represented at the Philadelphia Exhibition by "The
First Sorrow," a charming group of a girl and sick kitten, and his "Dying
Napoleon," or "Gli Ultimi Giorni di Napoleone," is now in the Corcoran Gal-
lery at Washington. Vela's style has been misunderstood, because, rather than
represent nature as the Greeks did, it adds the inventions and new ideas which
the Greeks might be supposed to use if their art had been prolonged to our
own time. When the "Napoleon" was exhibited in New York, a monthly
magazine, whose art-criticisms were at that time contributed by a writer of
notorious incompetency, went so far as to call it "a work possessing scarcely
a single good quality;" and said farther that the French "made short work of
it when exhibited at their last Exposition." The fact is that, in the first place,
the French regarded it with great jealousy, because the first brilliant success
in applying the romantic style of Delaroche to sculpture did not happen to
come from a French statuary ; and that, in the second place, the government
of the day having chosen to make the figure a Bonapartist emblem, covering
its feet day by day with fresh violets' and votive poems, the artists, all strong
The Grandmother s Tales.
i66 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
anti-Bonapartists, were reluctant to swell the peans of a masterpiece which
recalled their political aversions, while it aroused their unwilling admiration.
Dupre and Vela are confessedly at the head of their art in their native country;
but other sculptors are joined in a friendly confederacy in the experiment of
pushing sculpture as far as it will go in the romantic and picturesque, or rather
pictorial, direction. They freely imitate satin, silk, velvet, or frieze, with the
resources of their clever chisels. It is true the ancients, with as much sincerity,
represented in their marbles the limited variety of textures which their domestic
looms afforded. Vela's "Napoleon," because it had a blanket so perfectly carved
as to deceive the eye, was derided by some sapient persons ; yet in a painting,
such as Delaroche's "Death of Elizabeth," the realistic treatment of draperies
and cushions is not held to impair the grand dramatic and tragic impression.
Too many critics of sculpture are still in the same state of development that
Reynolds was when he declared that drapery in a historical painting should be
neither like silk or linen or woolen, but only "drapery," sublimated, or in a
state of generalization. This seems very ridiculous, as applied to painting, but
it is still applied, without rebuke, to sculpture. Barzaghi's "Childish Vanity"
represents to perfection the rich folds of "gros-grain" silk. Let not this affect
our liking for the simple little maiden, as she innocently trails the grand train
across the floor.
The figure of "Steam," by Rosetti, needs no special description apart from
that of its pendant, "Electricity," already noticed in these pages. Both belong
to the modern romantic or "boudoir" school of sculpture, seeking to please by
prettiness and ingenuity rather than by dignified and forcible imaginative
treatment.
A painting of a class to make the beholder stop and think, is "The
Casual Ward," by Fildes, engraved on pages 158 and 159. This picture, which
attracted a great deal of notice in the English department, was one of the
greatest and best exhibited. It is the work of a young artist, who achieved
great popular favor in 1869, and has steadily and worthily maintained his
position.
The figures in this picture are portraits of real people. They have nothing
in common except hunger, destitution and rags, and are fair types of the classes
who drift into the Casual Wards of EntjHsh cities night after night.
-#
|--i*jsu»ijj|||i5i5is:^^
:!;!f "T'f
ALlcaia B««tai,5« .
THE (&EKIUS OF STEAM.
Ir.tam^'tioiial Exlnliition 1878
GEBBIE &BAREIE.
'-{./jUfXi. 1477.
Tlie Anniversary.
iG8 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8y6.
The poor woman with a Ijaby in ht-r arms, and a ragged boy and poor
girl running at her side, is the wife of a laborer who is now undergoing three
weeks' imprisonment for assaulting her, while she is left penniless. Hating the
thought of separation from her children, the poor mother is on her way to the
country, where she has friends whom she expects to help her.
The old man with thin, worn features and a tall hat has been to London
to look after an erring son, who, from being vicious, has become criminal, and
the father has given the son every penny of the slender sum he brought with
him, and carries nothing but a heavy heart back to his native village.
The wretched lad crouched on the pavement has, literally, no history. He
never knew father or mother — at least his mother deserted him about the tune
he could remember anything. He was bred in the gutter, and he lives in the
streets. There are thousands of such boys in London.
The two m<Mi who come next in rotation are vagabonds. One calls him-
self "an odd man on the look-out for a job;" the other avers that his health
does not allow him to work, and that he subsists mainly on what "ladies and
gentlemen who are good to him" choose to give. The policeman could tell
you that this man is a well-known beggar, who must have been unusually
unsuccessful in his vocation to-day, or he would not condescend to the meagre
fare of the Casual Ward. Those folded arms, that shrinking mein, those legs
clinging together as if to strengthen each other's weakness, that face and chin
burled as they are in the shrugged shoulders, combine to form a tableau, the
artistic merit of which seldom fails to make the public pay tribute. Very
different is the "odd man," who assumes a sturdy rough-and-ready air, as if
anxious to undertake some heavy labor, but this is only another form of pre-
tence. He is always out of work, always professing a readiness to be employed,
and is one of the most noted shirkers in the labor-yard, where all these people
are called upon to perform a prescribed quantity of work before leaving In the
morning, in return for their shelter and food.
The central figure, middle-aged, with the Burgundy nose and damaged
presence, who rears himself against the wall and keeps his hands firmly in his
trousers pockets, with a half humorous air of philosophic resignation, is one
of those too-frequent wrecks from unrestrained indulgence in drink, of whom
every reader, we venture to assert, knows some living example. "What a
FLKE ART. 169
fellow this must have been in his time!" How often must he have "seen the
gas put out!" And was he ever beloved of woman? Doubtless; but as
doubtless was that love as Dead Sea fruit — disappointment and ashes ! Now
Tlic Erring' Wife.
comes the sad down-hill of his career. There is a rich huskiness in his voice,
and a twinkle in his bleary eyes, which speak forcibly of tap-room eloquence
and pot-house celebrity. Outcast as he is, this casual pauper is a keen politician
and will denounce the perfidy of ministers and proclaim the decadence of En^
land to any one who will listen.
I70 THE INTERNATIONAL EX II I B I TI N, 1 8 7 6.
The mechanic who nurses his sleepy child so tenderly — a child whose
comely features are full of yirlish beauty — and the bowed and gaunt woman,
his wife, are looking out for work. He has been ill, and was never very
expert, so he found his place filled by one younger and more skilful dian
himself on receiving his discharge from the hospital, and he is now plodding
his way to the neighborhood of a distant town, where, as he is told, such
services as he can render are in demand.
Of the two youths in the corner, one has been respectable, and the other
belongs to the same type as the crouching boy. Several adilitional years of
vagabondage have passed over the head of the other, however, and he is past
reclaiming. He is ridating some thieving e.\ploit to the youth by his side, who
is too much occupied in pitying himself to heed his companion's stories. There
is a lurking grin on the face of the scamp in the .Scotch cap which is very
characteristic; while the air of despairing woe with which the more gently
nurtured youth peers into vacancy makes one feel that he bitterly repents the
folly which has brought him to his present pass.
A little while back, and the Italian artists were zealous supporters of the
Church, pious defenders of the Pope's temporal power, and humble communi-
cants at the foot of the Roman altar. They lived and labored in the traditions
of Michael Angelo, and Raphael and Tinton-tto, whose talents developed them-
selves in the adornment of sacred edifices. Even Canova, though partaking in
the classical, Davidian revival of the commencement of our century, made his
most patriotic "effect" in reclaiming, as "the patrimony of the Church," the
works of art confiscated by Napoleon ; after which he solemnly dedicated the
rest of his life to religion, repaired to his native town in the robes of a knight
of Christ, and had a most orthodox death and burial. In these latter time.s,
the ideal is changed. We hear nothing of the religion of contemporary Italian
artists. The bright spirits of the time have for watchword not the Pope's
political power, but the "unity of Italy." We hear of Vela as "a warm
patriot," and a fighdng volunteer under Garibaldi. His favorite pupil, Bernas-
conti, shares his views. The ambidon of a modern Italian artist is to create a
warm, human, sensuous art, to emulate the dazzling career of Fortuny; the
cold of the cloister has too long influenced the career of genius in this old
stronghold of beauty. In adapting the resources of the chisel deliberately to
Robirlo Bom^utin Pm.
Pompeuan Boy Flute- Player.
172 • THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, iSj6.
what is called geiur art, the Italians have begun a vast and peculiar experiment,
the most extended that has been made by any nation of sculptors since the
antique. They sent to Philadelphia a world of figures representing the comedy
of life, its accidents, mishaps and tleeting graces. Many of the subjects seemed
fit only for the transitory sketches which an artist makes on his studio wall
with a morsel of coal. Most of them were etudes — artists' "bits," inspired by
a happy accident of light and shade, — the whimsical contrast of a splendid
remnant of oKl silk with a child's naked flesh (as in Barzaghi's figure on
page 145) — or a fleeting recollection of the carnival, as Borghi's sleepy, imper-
tinent girl in domino, resembling a guttered ball-candle surprised by the first
ray of sunrise. The very titles of their groups forsook the individuality of
former work. Just as water-color artists like .Simonetti or Induno will entitle
their studies according to the artistic proljlem involved — such as "Effect of
Satin by Candle-light," or "The Ball-dress," so these sculptors, instead of heroic
or historic personalities, give us titles such as Pessina's "The Costume of Mary
Stuart," or Pandiani's "Capricciosa." Antl the topics selected are sketchy,
ephemeral, accidental — the flutter of a smile, the fall of a tear, the blowing of
a bubble, the undulation of a veil in the breeze. To expand the capacity of
their art in a different direction from that of the grand classical works of
Greece was an admirable and honorable notion ; it is just what the Greeks
themselves would have done if their civilization had continued without a break
to our own century ; only, it is a pity that so much of the Italian skill took
the direction of over-ornament, and rococo and what is called in Rome (Ironi
the French baroque) "barocchismo."
But we check this qiierulous complaint in its incipiency on noticing an
example which shows all the flexible ingenuity of the modern school without
any of its triviality. Magni's "Reading Girl," of which we present a steel
engraving, after being more talked of than any statue in the London Exhibition
of 1862, was represented, in a diminished repetition, at Philadelphia, where it
was designated as No. 253, and attracted the attention of the judicious in the
long axis-gallery of the Art Annex. The "Leggitrice," or Reading Maid, has
divested herself for bed, let her hair pardy down, and prepared her slender
limbs for the couch ; but ere she seeks its protection, she must give a minute
to her favorite chapter. And then, of course, the minute becomes an hour, the
THE RIEABIM^ GIKIL.
U S .Intematioiial ExMiition 1876
GEBBIE & BAERiE
FINE ART. 173
bare toot grows stone on the chill stone floor, the volume is more than half
turned over, and the Leggitrice, tairly caught in the bibliophilist's trap — absorbed
like many an inordinate but less beautiful bookworm — forgets time, duty, cold,
hunger, and self in the absorption of the page. Prof Magni has caught her
just as she has become petrified into a marble image ; she has not as yet lost
the sweet grace of life and the flexible charm of girlhood. There is something
captivatingly bold and original in the way her lithe figure is thrown sideways
on the worn rush chair, and her old robe made a reading-cushion as she rests
the volume upon it. Every observer has yielded to the simple spell of this
statue, and its repetitions or 7'epliche adorn several galleries ; one of them is
in the Twelfth Saloon of the Brera Gallery in the sculptor's native city of
Milan ; another is at Padua, in the convent of San Antonio. Besides his
"Reading Girl," the artist was represented at Philadelphia by a life-size figure
of "Angelica," weeping a big marble tear as she clung to her rock, and a figure
of Mme. Ristori in the character of Mary Stuart. His "Socrates" and "David"
procured him additional fame, and duplicates of both of them have been recendy
purchased to adorn the new Hall of Congress of the Chilian Republic. His
"Reading Girl," "Socrates," "David," "Angelica," and "Ristori" were all at the
Paris Exhibidon of 1867. While these pages have been in preparation, Pietro
Magni has ceased to live; he died on the 9th of January, 1877. We learn
from a correspondent in his own country (Miss Brewster, the admirable news-
teller — the "public letter-writer," in fact, for fair Italy at large, that "woman
nation" whose lovers in the West are laid under constant obligations for so
many skilfully-penned epistles) that his habits were peculiar, and somewhat
stained with a facile vice of genius, the love of wine. It is even said that he
rented a half-dozen obscure lodgings in Milan, where he was Professor, that he
might be conveniently carried to bed from whatever haunt he lost conscious-
ness in. Whatever his fraildes may have been. Prof Magni had the essential,
incommunicable quality of genius; and we cannot but feel a measure of regret
that this humble tribute, which he mieht have liked as comingr from the to him
mysterious West, can never reach him.
A young sculptor of Magni's own city of Milan, Donato Barcaglia, sent to
the Exposition a number of groups most ambitiously conceived and executed —
works which trifled and toyed with the difficulties of the material as proudh' as
I
G. CastielifJiie, Pi
176 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
any of the singular sculptures of the Neapolitan Church we have spoken of.
It can hardly be denied, though, that Signor Barcaglia's groups trenched upon
the rococo, upon "barocchismo." One of them delineated a balcony overrun
with flowers, a soap-bubble, a pair of children, ribbons, laces — all in the size
of nature — quite a garden landscape with figures. Another, which though not
fulfilling our notion of the most tasteful art-theme imaginable is of great tech-
nical interest, we have considered well worth representing, and exhibit its
likeness on page 161. It is entided "Meeting Time," and consists of two life-
size figures in marble. The effect of the principal figure, with his enormous
hovering wings beating the air and casdng a sinister shadow on the other
personage, is of a kind seldom derived from the art of sculpture. The femi-
nine figure, that of a worldly-looking beauty "between two ages," hurried along
by the half-grotesque fluttering and prancing phantom she so terribly dreads, is
striking if not pleasant. She resists the influence of Time with an expression
in which her habitual pouting coquetry is -mixed with a real terror. Executed
in oils as a picture, this subject would be a universally admired motif if wrought
by a competent hand. Executed in so many hundred-weight of solemn white
marble, it contradicts all our old ideas of the decorum of sculpture. It seems
like fan-painting petrified unkindly into stone. But the new school is deter-
mined to show that it can indicate all the effects of painting.
Italian jiainting, too slenderly represented at Fairmount Park, nevertheless
sent some distinguished contributions which defended its title to stand up on
even terms with the sculpture. The Chevalier Roberto Bompiani, who sent to
the "Exposition Universelle" of 1867 a fine picture of "Autumn," contributed
to the Centennial Anniversary a beautiful pair of painted panel-subjects, of
upright shape, which, though executed in oil, had almost the effect of bas-reliefs,
from their statuesque treatment and classic elegance. One, of which we give
an engraving on page 167, represented "The Anniversary;" the other (see
page 171), delineated a "Pompeiian Flute-Player." The spirit of ancient Italy
is revived in these solitary figures, somewhat in the style of Alma-Tadema's
marvelous restorations of antique life. "The Anniversary" represents a lady
of rank decorating with flowers a terminal bust of her dead husband, the lost
head of the household. These memorial busts Avere set up by the Romans as
family galleries of ancestral painted portraits are arranged in more modern
FINE ART.
177
Christopher Columbus Monument.
times. The excavations of Pompeii reveal the position and style of these
busts, usually crowning a term or square monolithic monument, and provided
178 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
at the shoulders with projections on which wreaths were hung. They were
common in all houses, and we know that in Rome, at least in the time of the
Antonines, the Senate took upon itself to decree what emperors should be
represented in statuary within the mansions of the citizens. The stately lady
in the picture, whose time for wearing mourning weeds must have long since
passed, but whose memory recurs on the solemn day of her bereavement to
the impulse ot affection she telt as a bride, is a person of obvious rank, fit to
grace the noblest atriums of Rome. The subject of the other composition is
less aristocratic; the "Flute-Player" steps with bare feet, a poor hired slave,
over the mosaic pavement he is hardly deemc-d worthy to press. Behind him
we see a table, copied from a beautiful one unearthed in Pompeii, which has
served for a model to more than one artist. The instruments on which he is
about to play are the double clarionet, called fibicr o-aiimcp. One of these tibii2
was to be seen at the Exposition, in the Cast<dlani collection. The two tubes
were blown separately; the tube held in the right hand, and blown with the
right side of the mouth, produced the three high notes, and was called tibia
dextra; the tibia sinistra produced the four lower notes, and was played with
the other corner of the mouth. This art of sending the breath alternately
through two pipes is not yet entirely lost, for the peasants in certain parts of
Russia still employ, to console their solitude among the vast flocks of the
steppes, double shepherds' tibicr, called in their language "dutka." Our flute-
player, crowned with festal wreaths, advances to contribute his share of enter-
tainment to some great feast, of which the scattered flowers, and the elegant
wine-vase, yet litter the table ; the classic assemblage of music, wine and gar-
lands makes us think of Petronius's description of a Roman feast, or of Plato's
more exquisite drama of a Greek one, in the ".Svmposium."
Classic Rome — the Rome whose monuments are eternal, and whose modern
beauties seem but like decorations hung upon the enduring pyramids — is seen
in the picture by Chevalier Franqois Antoine Bossuet, represented in our cut
on' page 125. The flute-player in the last-named picture must have often passed
that Mausoleum of Adrianus and that /Elian bridge — works of the time of
Hadrian, yet solid still for our own use if we choose. But the centre of the
picture is occupied by a modern structure, the proudest effort of the renais-
sance — .St. Peter's. And between the sacred dome and the drum-shaped tomb
FINE ART.
179
is seen the square, many-windowed, factory-like Vatican, where the aged and
sickly Pope counts the days of his voluntary imprisonment. No view in the
world is so suggestive, so thought-compelling, as this. M. Bossuet, who takes
us in this picture to the banks of the Tiber and the shores of the past, is an
aged painter, born at Ypres in 1800, but residing at Brussels. He sent to
Philadelphia, besides a Spanish scene, a view of Grenada. The Pennsylvania
Lton Camorre, Pittx.
From a drawing by the
Academy has long possessed one of his beautiful landscapes, and enrolled him
among its honorary members — a distinction which he mentions in the catalogues,
just after his installation as Chevalier of the order of Isabella the Catholic
of Spain.
But old as is the Tiber, the Nile seems older. By a Paris landscapist,
N. Berchere, we have a view of the Nile in the time of its inundation — an
original and striking picture, of which we present a fine engraving on page
151. The Father of Rivers, which we are accustomed to think of as peaceful,
sad and somnolent — tedious with the weight of its immemorial history and
i8o THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
date — is here represented stretching almost to the horizon, and lashed to tur-
bulence by one of those fierce, rainless storms which are called "gales" on the
water, "simoons" on the desert. The light fiery cloudlets in the sky are torn to
fibres in the tremendous blast. In the foreground two boats have become
entangled, and their broad lateen sails are tearing each other to pieces. This
novel storm effect, with its element of tremendous heat added, gives one of the
most startling conceptions of Nile travel ever suggested by art.
Frederick Goodall's "Cairo Fruit Girl" (pages 146-7) and Charles Lan-
delle's "Fellah Woman" (page 163) are suitable figures with which to people
our reveries of modern Egypt. They show the characteristic ways of telling
travelers' tales indulged in by the English and French artist respectively. The
Englishman gives us a commonplace, broad-cheeked woman of the people,
tattooed on the forehead, bearing a basket of bananas and lemons through the
street (we fancy her crying her wares in a voice as astringent as the first and
as acid as the second), and smoking a commonplace cigarette. Behind her are
clustering stalks of maize. She is vulgar, not uncomely, and represented with
uncompromising truth. Monsieur Landelle (one of the most popular portraitists
and religious painters of Paris) must give a more poetic turn to his Egyptian
goddess. In her sphinx-like cap, turning her face full-front upon you, she
penetrates you with a glance from her long eyes bordered with kohl — a glance
sad, hazy, mysterious, and suggestive of innumerable generations of servitude
or unalleviated toil. She leans her hand, whose wrist is loaded with heavy,
tasteless jewels like fetters, upon the enormous water-vase, whose like she and
her countrywomen have carried to the Nile from a period long anterior to the
selling of Joseph into Egypt. Mr. Goodall's Egyptian Avoman is advancing;
M. Landelle's, even like the Egypt of our dreams, is motionless. Which is the
truer? or are they both different aspects of a truth?
The lovely park-scenery and succulent turf of Old England is represented
in the picture of "Haddon Hall: the Warrant," of which we gave an engraving
on page 98. By the same painter, Giuseppe Castiglione, a Neapolitan residing
in Paris and exhibidng at Philadelphia among the French artists, is our selected
picture of "A Call on our Uncle, the Cardinal," engraved on pages 174-5. Now,
the character of garden-landscape is totally different in the two countries of
England and Italy. The Italian trees are harsh, dry and severe-looking ; they
FINE ART. i8i
tend to compact, monumental, almost architectural forms; covered with dust, or,
after a rain, reflecting the deepest ot skies from each leaf suddenly turned into
a mirror, they are massed in strange grays and blues against the heavens. The
ilexes, olives, stone-pines, and cypresses seem like sculptural shapes, carved in
solid clumps, and with the accustomed green of northern vegetation modified
into shadowy browns and grays. "Turt," as understood in England, cannot be
obtained in the South ; the grass is irregular, thin and parched, except for a
short season in the spring, or for the few hours following a storm. A nation
of artists has known how to harmonize this "monumental" kind of vegetation
with appropriate effects of architecture, and accordingly the "Italian landscape-
garden," with its imposing flights of very broad low steps, its balustrades, its
alleys, statues, and vistas, has been created among the stately villas of Rome,
and somedmes imitated in the North. But a Southerner suddenly transported,
on a bright day, into an English park, is simply blinded and overcome. "The
effect," says Taine of Kew Gardens, "is too strong; in the sun, it is over-
powering; the incomparable verdure then assumes tones so rich and intense
that they cannot be transferred to canvas." M. Castiglione has proved himself
capable of appreciating both types of park-scenery. His " Haddon Hall" is a
rich tapestry of varied greens, almost covering the space of the canvas, and
developing a sunny gradation of tones in an infinity of leaf-forms. The present
composition is a blue sky, dentellated with the noble but sparse forms of the
stone-pine and cypress, which escape from behind the urns and balustrades of
an elevated terrace. The grass is a straggling intruder among the pebbles of
an ill-kept gravel-walk ; and the view is not over a turfy glade, but over a
gleaming city, like Rome seen from the Pincian. Into this mosaic of lustrous
and formal shapes, come the figures which M. Castiglione knows so well how
to distribute : at the right, the Cardinal in his scarlet hat, attended by a monk
and an aged nobleman ; at the left, his attendant Suisse, halberd in hand and
salade on head ; and in the middle, ascending the terrace-steps, a bevy of youth
and beauty, gay mundane youths and maidens in the gallant costumes of the
epoch of Louis XIII.
Another landscape-gardening effect is sought by Achille Formis, of Milan,
whose picture of "The Park," hung in the Exhibition near to Fontana's striking
scene from "Robert le Diable," we engrave on page 133. In the original, the
i84 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION 1876.
gleam of positive sunsliine, glancing on the stone-work and on the forms of
the dogs and human beings, was singularly successful. The composition is
marked off into strata by a horizontal line of balustrades, above which are
bunched together the thick bundles of perpendicular tree-stems, while beneath
are parties of ladies in modern Worth dresses, meeting and introducing each
other. The Cavaliere Formis is a member of the Art Academies of Milan and
Naples, received a prize at the late World's Fair in Santiago de Chili, and
exhibited at Philadelphia, besides the present picture, a striking scene on the
banks of Lake Como, entitled "The Alpine Tourists."
These qualities of pure translation — the conveying of positive sunshine and
air, the exact relief and "value" of foliage against the sky, or, in figure-painting,
the truest representation of flesh in light and shadow, are characteristic of the
Continental schools of painting. The aim of the intellectual, English school, on
the contrary, is rather interpretaticnt ; the giving of a meaning to nature, ser-
mons to stones, its subtle poetry to the ocean or the forest, and, in human
beings, the look of the soul rather than the look of the body. To paint natural
objects just as nature's chemistry makes them, and just as nature's air and light
color and relieve them, is the s^nxjumar of art. The best of the old masters
sought principally for this ; only, as they were invariably great poets, the
romance of their souls tinged the work and made their pictures imaginative.
To represent nature candidly as it is, is the only safe way ; to paint it as you
fancy it might be, if it were sentient enough to attitudinize for the grand poem
you think you have in your head, is the tempting way and the perilous way.
We have no space here to go into this, but would simply point out that a
practised critic can always find a strained falsetto effect about a picture which
the artist paints to make you perceive, not the scene he beholds, but his
thoughts in beholding it. Even the "Mountain Gloom," a large water-color by
A. P. Newton (pages 138-9), though a patient, pains-taking and impressive
picture, is perhaps gently tinged with a literary kind of sentimentalism. The
incident of the shepherd's dog, watching the carcass of the lost sheep against
the arrival of the birds of prey, is thoroughly Wordsworthian. The title,
"Mountain Gloom," is unfortunate, as it simply advertises the painter's obses-
sion by a famous chapter of Ruskin's ; and the whole composition is an
illustration in colors of these delicate phrases of that author, which best
FINE ART.
185
describe it: "Tiie
summits of the
rocky moun-
tains," says Mr.
Ruslcin,"are gath-
ered into solemn
crowns and cir-
clets, all flushed
in that strange,
faint silence of
possession by
the sunshine
which has in it
so deep a mel-
ancholy; full of
power, yet as
frail as shadows;
lifeless, like the
walls of a sep-
ulchre, yet beau-
tiful in tender
fall of crimson
folds, like the
veil of some sea-
spirit that lives
and dies as the
foam flashes; fix-
ed on a perpet-
ual throne, stern
against all
strength, lifted
T)ie First Friend.
above all sorrow,
and yet effaced
and melted ut-
terly into the air
by that last sun-
beam that has
crossed to them
from between
the two golden
clouds."
Another speci-
men of the cele-
brated English
water-color
school, of whose
products we
never have the
chance to see as
many as we
should like, —
there having
been (for in-
stance) but fifty-
four of them at
the Centennial,
— is "The Bea-
con," by J. Absa-
lon, a London
painter of some
eminence, though
no representa-
tive of the modern "thoughtful" creed. He simply gives us (page 187) a Scotch
or Cornish girl, the fisher's bride, who holds a flaring torch to guide to shore
her husband's fishincr-smack. She is not so elegant a figure as "Little Em'ly,"
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
watching with the light for her uncle Peggotty ; but she is gentle, sincere and
good ; and the forgetfulness that makes her stand on the rough rock in the
salt wind is an earnest of that form of human love which in its unselfishness
is most like the Divine.
The charming oil-painting entitled "Mistress Dorothy" was engraved and
published by us on page 68 of this work. In the merited fulness with which
we desire to treat the products of the British school of artists, we add (pages
182-3) a large copy of "Only a Rabbit," by the same artist, Mr. George A.
Storey, of London. The scene carries us back to the good old days of sport
in the English greenwood, when every grange kept its pack of beagles, and
when Cowper and Burns had not yet raised the voice of s\mpathy for animals
shot at. Before the uprising of our modern humanitarian sentiment, all hearts
beat in unison with the excitement of the dogs and hunters.
" What sweeter music would ye hear
Than hounds and beagles crying?
The startled hare runs mad with fear,
Upon her speed relying."
Only a Rabbit, and a single specimen at that, has been the reward of the
squire on this luckless day. His wife pleasantly twits him with his want of
skill, holding the flaccid game-bag in her hand, and pointing to the solitary
evidence of his prowess. An intelligent dog looks upon the meagre booty
with obvious shame and disgust. The easy squire, who is getting too stout to
follow his pack through the bracken, drowns his discomfiture in fast-following
glasses of ale, which the ne"at serving-maid replenishes from her flagon. Out
of the unlucky hunter's failure, Mr. Storey contrives an artist's success. His
picture is well diversified, in a quiet key appropriate to the humbleness of the
incident, and his personages are distributed with skill. Each figure assists in
telling the tale, and the composition is dated, as it were, by the assemblage of
antique costumes and architecture, all homely and countrified, and all appro-
priate to the epoch when Milton was reviving English pastoral.
This anecdotic faculty — the skill with which an incident is told — is the grand
characteristic o( the British school, and is a legacy from the genius of Hogarth.
Two or three more pictures contributed to the British section we will notice as
instances of this narrative power, by means of which art with our cousins per-
iSS THE IXTERNATIOXAL EXHIB ITIOX, 1S76.
forms many of the functions of literature. Other schools, we may hint, rather
understand art as existing through purely plastic qualities. Before an English
picture we wonder what the personages have been doing, or what they are
going to do. Before an Italian picture — the saints ol Raphael or the goddesses
and allegories of the Venetians — we wonder what they a?'c, and are lost in the
purely artistic contemplation of their form, their essence, and their grace. Mr.
Calderon, an artist in high repute in London, contributed "After the Battle," a
touching picture, illustrating fully what we have said of the literary character
of English art. We have inserted a steel engraving of this work. The sen-
sation in examining it is the same as that of reading the chapter of "Esmond,"
where the young orphan is found in the deserted house by Dick Steele and his
fellow-soldiers. We see in Mr. Calderon's picture a French farm-house, of
which one side has been blasted out, entered by a merry gang of English
soldiers during the war of the Vendee. Their red coats make spots of color
against the plastered wall. On an overturned cradle sits a little French child
of six years, solitary guardian of the devastated home. The soldiers, exam-
ining and prowling here and there, have stumbled on this incident of war —
the cradle upset, the undressed child with one wooden shoe, the trimmed and
useless lamp upon the dresser, the key hanging on the nail, ready for the door
that has been blown to atoms. A pretty drummer-boy, like Hogarth's young
drummer in "The March to Finchley," leans over, face to face with the little
unfortunate, and would ask a question but that their languages are different.
The painter, in his search for an anecdote in which art could perfectly take the
place of literary narrative, has actually found a scene where the persons are
of necessity dumb ! As the French infant is scared and silent, and the English
intruders are evidendy not the kind to know a word of the language, the nar-
rative is really as eloquent on canvas as it could have been in reality. English
tableau-drama can no further go! Art no longer feels its lack of uttered
speech! The painted novel is perfect, not even a ztwd being lost!
This tendency to take the place of narrated anecdote by means of art is
also characteristic of Mr. Alexander Johnston's "Covenanter's Marriage," of
which we have presented to our readers a careful engraving on steel. It is
like an act in a drama. The scenery is painted with the rocky fastnesses of
Scotland, in whose most secret recesses the persecuted Campbellites solemnized
FINE ART. . . 189
the union of two of their sect. King Charles's cavaHer troops are on the alert,
ready to prevent the illegal and hated ceremony. Already, on a distant moun-
tain path, we see them, their horses spurred and royal standard waving, while
the band of faithful Calvinists go calmly on with the rite, in the form which
their conscience approves. Their sentinel, posted on a horse among the group,
perceives the peril, warned by a breathless lad beside the pine-tree, who waves
a signal of danger ; but, with characteristic and heroic courage, he raises his
hand to prevent the boy from shouting, determined that the sacramental rite
shall be consummated before the group seeks its safety in retreat. In addition
to this swift, running, tumultuous action of his picture, making it a rival of
some chapter of Sir Walter Scott at his liveliest, Mr. Johnston has patriotically
included a set of Scottish types of unimpeachable naturalness, from the shep-
herd in his plaid who holds the register, to the Scotch hound crouched in the
foreground, and from the thorny thistle at the left to the buxom bride and
bridemaidens, worthy to be sung by Burns and Allan Ramsay.
Nor is the anecdotic quality one would signalize in British art lacking in
Mr. E. M. Ward's picture, a picture which may justly be called famous, and
which merits the excellent steel-plate we publish — the painting of "Chester-
field's Ante-room." Here we have the "anecdote" carried to its utmost limit in
the art of painting, so that every figure has the epigrammatic point of a good
after-dinner story, and seems more like a piquant paragraph than a sketch in
color and light and shade. The yawners and gapers, the poor and swaggering
captain who lifts his eyeglass to the pretty girl to prove that though his purse
is lean and preferment would be welcome, he has not forgotten the points of
a fine woman — the young lady herself, in powder and patches, who totters on
her high heels, attended by two servants, a negro and a beau, and who laughs
with delighted curiosity at that rare animal, Dr. Johnson the lexicographer — the
glimpse of Chesterfield himself, smiling upon a departing client, and the more
ferocious figure of Johnson — all are touched with the vivacity, the neatness, of
a finished story-teller. It is a letter of Horace Walpole's in paint. The person
in the doorway having the interview with Chesterfield is Colley Cibber. "A
sudden disgust was taken by Johnson," says Boswell, "upon occasion of his
having been one day kept long in waiting in his lordship's ante-chamber, for
which the reason assigned was that he had company with him, and at last, when
192 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8j6.
the door opened, out walked Colley Cibher." If tliere is a misconception in
tlie picture, it is in representing Johnson as somewhat too old. "Seven years,
my lord, have now passed," he says in his famous letter of 1755, "since I
waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door." Seven years
previous to 1755 would take us back to the year 1748, when Dr. Johnson was
thirty-nine years of age ; and the painting represents a man in his forties rather
than a man in his thirties. The quarrel between the author and the lord was
the sign of a grand revolt; it announced the close of the era of feudalism in
letters. Before that angry protest, an author was a pensioner, who hastened
to put himself, with each new work, under the patronage ot some eminent
person, who reaped a good halt of the glory by advertising the production in
his circle of acquaintance, and procuring publicity for the cleverness he pro-
tected. Johnson, by a sturdy blow, showed that one author meant to be
independent, and could be. "Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had
a patron before," he said. "He is the proudest man existing," said Johnson
of Chesterfield, in high glee at the honor ot co[)ing with a rival power of such
magnitude. "I think by your own account you are tlie prouder man of th<='
two," said a listener, Dr. Adams.
We cannot more fiiirly illustrate this predominance of the literary faculty
in English artists, than by taking up a good French picture, of a sort which
likewise seems at tirst sight to be mere anecdotic painting. Let us examine
"King Morvan" (pages 190-1), by Evariste -Vital Luminals, a painter born at
Nantes. Here are Morvan, a chief of the Bretons in the ninth century, his
wife, and the priest Witeher. The holy man appeared at the rude court in
Brittany as an envoy of Louis the Debonnaire, son of Charlemagne ; Morvan,
who owes suzerainty to Louis, has long neglected the payment of tribute ; the
priest has come to persuade him to his duty. As the holy man delivers his
tedious sermon, the young wife of Morvan emerges from their nuptial apart-
ment, takes possession of the chief, sits upon his knee, fondles his hand, and
persuades him to refuse the contribution. The story is told with marvelous
power, especially in insisting on the pertinacity, the clinging, lingering persua-
siveness, of the woman. The ambassador may be prolix, but there is a prolixitv
of affection which always contrives to sit out the most patient pleader whose
motive is less deep than that of love. Now this anecdote-painting, though not
FINE ART. 193
neglected by the French artist, is soon felt to be but a subordinate invention.
What is really in his eye is the plastic impression, the grouping of the supple
woman and rigid king, like the bow and the cord, and the monumental support
which the figure ot Witeher lends to the composition ; the costumes are well
studied, and they assist the story, but they are seen to be used as artistic deco-
rations ; not a single artistic motif is neglected which the subject affords, from
the ecclesiastical embroidery on the priestly garments to the savage buckskin
suit of the primitive king, sitting so sturdy and sullen upon his wolf-skin. The
three figures are interwoven into a group that has the stillness and calculated
grace of sculpture. As for the topic of the picture, it amounts at most to a
"situation" — a contrast of motives and dispositions; it is hardly a "narrative,"
a sequence of events. A true artist has three chief concerns, the coloring of
his picture, the lighting of his picture, and its plastic difficulties or difficulties
of drawing. A literary man astray in the craft of art thinks first of his nar-
rative. If his expressions are telling and his incident lively and readable, he
believes he has made a good picture — and the world, little occupied with such
distinctions, is easily induced to think so too.
We have delayed thus far to describe the work of a pupil of the last-
mentioned painter — Miss Emily Sartain — because we wished to give this modest
but promising young artist some of the reflected credit proceeding from the
glory of her instructor, Luminais. Miss Sartain is easily at the head of the
lady engravers on steel in this country, her portraits inserted in many important
works bearing testimony to the exactitude with which she catches a likeness,
and the artistic way in which she handles the problems of texture and chia-
roscuro. It is within a very few years that this accomplished young lady has
ventured upon the dTfificulties of oil-painting, and the number of works by which
the public can judge her in her new walk is limited. After many months of
hard practice under the admirable tuition of M. Luminais, she has produced the
picture entitled "The Reproof," which certainly does credit to her abilities, and
has few or no marks of what is called the "prentice hand." The costumes are
of the time of Henry VIII : a young girl, who gives an indefinable impression
of having a will of her own beneath the temporary humility of her downcast
eyes and bowing posture, is listening to the strictures of a stately lady, who
seems to be the "maiden aunt" of the period. Some suitor, who has perhaps
. //. Boughtoii, Finx
196 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
conferred the fine jewels she wears upon her neck, has captivated the heart of
the maiden, but does not meet the views of her cliaperone. It may result in
a restoration of the necklace, with the feuds, separation, and heart-burnmgs of
two noble families, or it may lead to an elopement — who shall say? Miss
Sartain has sketched the hesitancy, the doubt, of a situation still in abeyance ;
further than that it is not the province of art to 'go.
A "situation" — the sudden Hash of artistic vision illuminating a scene, as
if the lightning were quickly to blaze upon some telling tableau of history, of
poetry, or of modern manners — that is the Continental conception of pictorial
art, in opposition to the English, which is apt to look before and after. This
is the case even with such a painting as Pierre-Charles Comte's "The King's
(Louis XI) Entertainment" (pages 1 18-19). Although the scene is a passage
of history — quite as much as the "Chesterfield's Ante-room"-^ — yet the pre-occu-
pation of the distinguished painter has especially been to build up his compo-
sition with art and grace, to color it well, to please the eye with the skillful
arrangement of forms, and to cast over the whole group an agreeable unity
of light and shade. Still, we do not deny that the painter in this case trenches
somewhat on the ground of the anecdote-painters, that he occupies himself
with witty contrasts and effective bits of character, somewhat in the manner of
Hogarth. The most exacting advocate of "art for art's sake" cannot fairly
object to this, if the great qualiti<'s of plastik, as the Germans call it, are not
allowed to suffer, and are kept paramount. M. Comte exhibited this picture in
the Paris Salon of 1869, attributing his anecdote to the poet Mellin de Saint-
Gelais, the friend of Ronsard. Whether authentic or not, the incident is very
droll. The sick king, whose soul was between the hands of his barber-surgeon
and his priests — the former of whom stands at the bed-head, while a pair of
the latter are praying at the fireside — has admitted a pair of roving bohemians,
who entertain him with their dancing pigs. A pair of the absurd animals are
smirking and bowing to each other, one with knightly sword, the other with
the high coif of a court lady. The vagrant's wife is preparing three more of the
trained animals to take part in the exhibition, while Tristan the Hermit and
his men-at-arms surround her with openly-smiling faces. The sour-visaged king,
in bed, lets his lean countenance smile, at least on one side of the face; the
barber-surgeon smiles too, but in mere courtly complaisance, secretly deeming
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
the cure by laughter an infringement of his rights as physician. The best of
the joke is the expression of the two monks, who cast sheep's eyes of intense
appreciation at the learned pigs, while muttering their paternosters for dear
life. The picture glows from margin to margin with the keenest life and humor,
and is altogether worthy of the artist, whose repute in treating the episodes
of history is very high.
The French motto of "art for art's sake" has led the French artists into
frequent study of the nude — not so much from any unworthy sentiment, we
fancy, as for the sake of passing off what is really a phase of preparatory,
academic study, by the introduction of some decorative accessions, as a finished
work of art, and so getting a litde money to replenish the ever-lean artistic
purse. The principal studies from the undraped figure in the French depart-
ment (which scandalized the public, we believe, rather more than the undraped
statues in Italy's exhibit) were Chartrin's "Angelica," Faivre-Duffer's "Venus,"
Cetner's "Salammbo," Garnier's "Bather," Perrault's "Bather," Tortez's "Echo,"
and Camorre's "Cassandra." Not to neglect entirely a characteristic feature of
the French contribution, we select a subject purified by history and poetry,
Camorre's "Cassandra" (page 179). In yFschylus' "Agamemnon" we have a
moving and gloomy picture of the last hours of Cassandra — her return with
Agamemnon after the Trojan war to his unfriendly palace at Mycaene — her
oracular prophecies to him, which Apollo will not suffer to be believed, of
treachery and death within his home — and then the murderous deed of Clytem-
nestra, involving Cassandra's own death with the assassination of the King of
Men. It is one of the gloomiest pages of Hellenic fable, involving the subse-
quent revenge and madness of Orestes, the Greek Hamlet. M. Camorre's
noble, all-womanly figure was a strangely impressive one ; the prophetess, whose
youth had been made wretched by the love of Apollo — for the gods' costliest
gift is their love — lies at the foot of the smoking tripod of sacrifice, her fate
having been to see all the woe of the world in vision before it happened, and
to be laughed at for her discernment. Our sketch has the interest of being an
artistic autograph — the painter's first thought for his picture, copied by a
mechanical process in exact facsimile.
We have already illustrated (page 145) the amusing figure of "Vanity" by
Francesco Barzaghi, of JMilan, and given a steel-plate of his "Finding of Moses."
FINE ART.
199
Signor Tyontbclht, Sc,
The Bird's Aesl.
On page 185 we show a third work by the same artist. "The First Friend"
represents a WitXe night-gowned girl, fatigued after a day's romp which has
tumbled her curls all into her eyes, shaking hands for "good-night" with a
200 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIB ITION, 1S76.
fringy-pawed dog- which is carried in her arms, and for whose hving comrade-
ship she has contemptuously dirown her doll to the floor. We are reminded
of the pretty scene in "Les Miserables," where the inn-keeper's daughter of
Montfermeil, Eponine, plays with her cat: "Do you see, sister, this doll is
funnier than the real one. She moves about, and cries, and feels warm. Come,
sister, let us play with her. She will be my litde girl, and I will be a lady,
and I will come to pay you a visit, and little by litde you will notice her mous-
taches, and that will surprise you, and then you will notice her ears, and then
you will notice her tail, and that will surprise you. And you will say, Good
heavens ! And I v.ill say. Yes, madam, it is a litde girl of mine ; litde girls
are made so this season." Victor Hugo, reporting this conversation, says that
the grace of childhood, like the brilliancy of butterflies' wings, vanishes when
you try to hold it; but our sculptor, at least, seems to have succeeded in
catching this infantile grace just before its vanishing.
Childish again in its naivc/c, but of more masculine sendment, is the bronze
figure of a young "Shinty Player," from Chili, which many visitors to the
Exposition must have admired in the western end of the Main Building. It
is truly gratifying to find the arts so advanced in the wealthy republic of the
South as this excellent statue indicates. The form is capitally poised, the coltish
look of a boy's unshaped joints and tendons is given without mincing the
matter, and the type is full of interest. The young half-breed, engaged in a
native game which might be described as "Polo without the horsemanship," lifts
his curved sdck over his head with a gesture full of energy and decision, pre-
paring to strike the ball at his foot; another ball is held provisionally in the
left hand. His stiff Indian hair is confined with a fillet, and he wears the short
drawers of the Tropics. Our engraving on page 128 presents the best view
of the statue — the leaning line which passes through the raised arm to the
advanced leg, and connects with both of these members the torso so finely
thrown back, appearing in the cut to great advantage, and marking a pose
which all artists must admire.
Likewise in bronze is the figure of "The Erring Wife," by Jules Cambos,
a French sculptor born in the town of Castres, and now pracdsing at Paris,
after an assiduous study of his art under the leadership of Jouffroy. The
present model was first exposed at the Salon of 1869, in the material of
FINE ART. 20 1
marble. It has since been cast in bronze, and, lilce nearly all the French sculp-
ture exhibited in Philadelphia, was sent to us in the latter less fragile material.
Near by, in the Art Annex, stood the same artist's "Cigale" (or grasshopper —
from La Fontaine's fables — the improvident minstrel, who "having sung all
summer, may go and dance all winter"). M. Cambos is also known for a
statue of Eve, exhibited at Paris in 1872, and a "Young Gaul," executed in
1868. He has received repeated medals. The statue we represent on page
169 shows a woman tightly swathed in drapery of a complicated and original
cast, who has thrown herself on the ground in an agony of terror, and raised
her bound arms before her face, as a shelter from the terrible Jewish form of
execution. The fact that she has rushed up to the immediate presence of the
Saviour is skilfully indicated by her kneeling just upon the celebrated words,
written in the dust a moment since, and here given in French: "Que celui
parmi vous qui se trouve sans peche jette la premiere pierre." We should
remember, in regarding this statue, that it is an historical, not a symbolical
figure. This immortal culprit, to whom we owe one of the tenderest sayings
of Jesus, and whose moment of humiliation before the Jerusalem rabble creates
for us the most merciful edict of the Christian law, really existed. She was
an historic character, though the splendor of the moral illustruted so absorbs
the mere actual incident, that she is probably classed by many careless thinkers
among the shadowy imaginations of Divine Parable; but the Teacher needed
not to invent a parabolic story for every axiom ; he could evoke the axiom,
with the most burning impressiveness, out of the actual history of each long
warm Syrian day.
We should like to pen some observations illustrating the preparation of
bronze statues, of which we have just described two. For the history of bronze-
casting we might go back to Pliny the Naturalist, who gives the pre-eminence
to this kind of sculpture, though antiquity has not left us nearly so many
specimens in bronze as in marble. Not to stray into this impertinent kind ot
antiquarianism, we may say that modern artistic bronze-founding has been most
successfully practised at Paris, at Munich, and at Florence. In America, also,
by the importation of skilled artisans, the industry has prospered to admiration,
and faultless bronzes have been cast at Philadelphia by Robert Wood, as well
as at Chicopee in Massachusetts. A fair specimen of Paris bronze was the
V. C. Prinsif. Ft
leopatra.
204 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
las*'-i'nentioned statue, "The Erring Wife." It illustrated the French theory of
leaving the sculptor's touch upon the clay, so far as possible, in all its natural
spirit and roughness, avoiding in great measure the evidence of the chaser's
tool, the "riffler." The great foundry of Munich is very celebrated, an example
of its work being the Probasco fountain at Cincinnati. It is objected to its
method by French bronze-founders that it casts large statues in separate squarish
blocks, which though united by invisible seams, may afterwards change color
unevenly, so as to deface the monument with an arbitrary square patchwork.
Perhaps the best bronze-establishment in Europe was that of Papi in Florence,
lately closed by the Government. Its casting of Michael Angelo's "David," in
the size of the original, was a celebrated achievement. Barbedienne is at the
head of bronze manufacture in Paris, but his experts look up with envy to the
flawless moulding and tasteful finish of the Florence bronze statuary. Great
attention was attracted at our Exposition to the Russian bronzes, cast by Chopin,
of St. Petersburg, from the inimitable equestrian statuettes of Lanceret.
A good German bronze is "The Dying Lioness" by Wolff, a Berlin artist,
a group which, from the time of die Exhibition and since, adorns the grounds
of Fairmount Park, near Memorial Hall. The figures are at least as large as
life, and include a lioness, whose shoulder has been pierced by the poisoned
arrow of the Kabyle hunter, a male lion, and two cubs. There is something
fine in the true family sentiment of this wilderness group, where the little ones
pathetically feel at the stiffening body that will shelter and nourish them no
more, while the desert lord lifts himself in towering but unavailing rage, and
menaces the hunters with the thunder of his roar. The copper-plate which
illustrates this piece of sculpture we are glad to be able to declare one of the
most artistic plates contained in our work. It is by an American etcher and
painter, Mr. Peter Moran, brother of a whole group of artistic celebrities, and
himself an animal-painter of distinguished skill, as may be judged from his
picture seen on page 9, for the engraving of which, however, we had not the
advantage of his cunning burin.
Another permanent decoration of Fairmount Park is the monument to
Columbus, to celebrate the installation of which we have prepared the large
engraving on page 177. The history of this nif-morial is closely intertissued
(to use Shakespeare's word) with that of the Exposition. During the year
FINE ART.
205
before the Centennial Anniversary a movement was set on foot among the
Italian residents of the city of Philadelphia for the raising of a fine monument
to the Discoverer of America, in the Centennial year, near the commemorative
Exhibition; the society found themselves able to collect funds with agreeable
2o6 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
rapidity, and soon an order was sent to Italy for the execution of the first statue
of the deathless Genoese navigator ever set up by private subscription in any
one of the United States of America. In January, 1876, Mr. Viti, the Italian
consul in Philadelphia, who had charge of the enterprise, received photographs
of the model, and before the end of the Exposition the whole monument,
including the elaborate pedestal, was in place. It now graces the embowered
grounds of Fairmount Park, near the site of the International Fair, to which
Italy, in an especial degree, contributed the impression and stamp of artistic
distinction. It is very lofty. The statue on the summit is colossal, and of the
fairest white marble. Columbus is shown in his attributes as discoverer, geogra-
pher and navigator. He stands resting his hand upon a terrestrial globe, among
whose Continental divisions his fingers have setded upon the part representing
America. At his feet is an anchor, signifying that it was through navigation
his invaluable boon was conferred upon mankind. His name, "Christopher
Columbus," is carved in large letters on the socle beneath his figure. On the
pedestal below is seen a bas-relief, representing Columbus leaving the Pinta in
a boat to plant upon the beach the Castilian flag. During the latter part of
the Fair's duration this marble Colossus looked calmly out upon the grounds
peopled with a world's hurrying multitudes. If anything could lend life and
intelligence to the stone eyes of a portrait, it would be the fact of Columbus,
standing on the soil of that continent which he gave to Europe as a wilderness
peopled with barbarians, at length throwing his shadow upon our mighty city,
where Europe's arts and nations were met in homage to our national existence.
We have been somewhat neglectful of the prosperous Austrian school of
painting, since giving a cut of that great masterpiece, the "Catherine Cornaro,"
by Makart, who must be considered an Austrian painter since he has accepted
a professorship in the Vienna Academy. Makart and Feuerbach, both offshoots
of the Munich school, are prominent instructors in the Austrian capital, and
have greatly changed Vienna art for the better. Since the days when Petten-
koffer and the other old academic spirits were the leading influences, a more
intelligent and broad manner has been developed, to the obliteration of former
national distinctions, and the assimilation of Austrian art with the intelligent art
of the rest of Europe. In fact, the recent tendency is towards the identifica-
tion of great art principles across the continent, and what we may call a
FINE ART.
207
diffusion of the light of French intelligence throughout the academies. In
Munich, the great contemporary master, Piloty, is a pupil and imitator of the
French Delaroche ; and Munich is supplying schoolmasters to the rest of
Teutonic Europe. The Belgian painters have long been completely French in
feeling. The ancient
landmarks are rapid-
ly dissolving, the old
hard German man-
ner, the Diisseldorf
manner as it is called
in America, being out
of favor even in its
former strongholds.
Austria made a very
creditable display at
Philadelphia of about
one hundred and
twenty oil paintings,
almost all from the
city of Vienna; about
thirty water- colors ;
and some fine etch-
ings by linger —
while, again, the sen-
tinel bronze groups
in front of the Art
Building represent-
ing Pegasus led by
Signer Riseardo, Sc.
The Mendicants.
were by the Vienna
sculptor, Pilz. We
select another Aus-
trian work for illus-
tration, and take a
humble domestic
scene, opining that
our readers will be
ready to descend from
the Pegasus ot Pilz
and the Venetian
spendors of Cather-
ine Cornaro to see
what more familiar
fare Vienna art can
offer him. Here it
is, simple and genu-
ine as Vienna bread,
a rustic group listen-
ing to "Grandmoth-
er's Tales," in the
picture of Edmund
Blume (page 165).
The background is
the familiar porcelain
History and Music,
stove. On the bench built around it the grand-dame is sitting, — her spinning-
wheel stopped, — the flaxen thread floating down out of her fingers as the
interest of the narrative culminates. The tale, in its progress, has passed
through the reminiscences of infancy, which are for little Rahel, sitting rapt
with her baby- wagon ; past the epoch of school-days, which are for young Fritz
2o8 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
as he leans against the stove; and has attained the period of universal interest,
the history of love, which the old woman is sensible enough to address, without
any pretence of beating around the bush, direct to Gretchen, who will under-
stand it. "His eyes were blue, my dear, his hair was golden." And so on,
through the eternal, interminable idyl, which to girls like Gretchen is never
long, and perpetually new. The painter's joke in all this is the parado.K about
the thread of the story and the thread of the spinning-wheel. When an ancient
gossip reaches the period of what Disraeli calls "anecdotage," the line of flax
is often forgotten and is forever in jeopardy; but the line of talk, supernatu-
rally sustained, spins on perpetual, endless, invulnerable !
From the excellent Munich school, which in a single generation has sprung
up into a formidable rival to Paris, we select for illustration a delightful picture,
painted in 1875, by .Sigmund Eggert. It is called "A Visit to the Village
Artist," and is engraved by us on page 153. Here we are in the ground-floor
work-room of one of those humble Raphaels, common enough in Catholic
Europe, who paint nothing but saints for churches. Even the tiny child,
neglecting her doll, plays with a little picture of a real saint, with a real halo.
The light that comes through the bull's-eye panes falls on nothing but martyrs
and holy men and women, who swarm upon the walls, stand upon the dresser,
and rear up against the jack-towel. The artist, a lean and slippered pantaloon,
is receiving a call from some village magnates — the teacher of the seminary
and a couple of barefoot monks. The critical expression of the first, as the
painter exhibits a sacred picture larger, and consequently holier, than any in
his stock, is exquisite. Against the doorway lean the pictures commonly seen
in Catholic churches, representing the "Stations," or pauses, on the road to
Calvary; that which is most plainly visible is the Fainting under the Cross.
Behind the artist is a wooden statue — some bishop of happy memory — painted
in the brightest colors which the adjacent palette and bunch of brushes can
supply. Everything here is routine and custom — the artist's most pious inspi-
rations savor quite too much of the tracing and the stencil, and the decorous
critics are people of routine too, and contemplate the most awful subjects in
this museum of martyrs with professional sang-froid. The artist has interpreted
very slyly and delicately one of the quaint scenes — or rather one of the quaint
behind the scenes — afforded by rural Catholicism in the old Fatherland.
FINE ART. 209
A picture of real religious interest, which we approach with anything but
levity, is the large and pathetic composition by Ernest Slingeneyer, of Brussels,
entitled "A Christian Martyr in the Reign of Diocletian." We present a fine
engraving on page 125. Fortunately, this important work, the most remarkable
contribution made by Belgian art to religion of late years, is so widely and
admiringly known that our task in describing it is almost a sinecure. Some
of the visitors to the Centennial had already seen the painting in the London
Exhibition of 1862. Many others were familiar with the fine steel print by
Demannez. . The story told by the two principal figures, which are life-size, is
appallingly simple. We are in Ancient Rome — the Coliseum is crowded. The
lighter preliminary plays are over, and now comes the exhibition of the bcstiarius,
or fighter with beasts. The slave opens the gateway of the den where are
confined the lions in their cages, the human antagonists on their beds of straw.
In the present case the brutal slave pauses surprised — for the victim is sweetly
sleeping! He is a poor Christian boy, given up naked to the fury of the
beasts and the Roman lust for blood ; his only wealth is the reed crucifix, the
symbol of triumphant martyrdom. He grasps his cross, and is not afraid to
sleep. The rolling applause of the people in the amphitheatre beyond — the
more disturbing stealth of the pacing beasts, going softly about the cages on
their velvet feet, — nothing has prevented that innocent, that divine slumber,
precursor of the eternal repose on high. In another hour a little troop of
humble people — his Christian friends — will be permitted to visit the spoliaruim
or dead-room of the circus ; they will find a mangled body, the ruins of life and
strength in a wreck of bones and flesh ; they will be allowed to compose the
shattered limbs, to wash the red skin white again, and bear the martyr away
to his obscure grave in the catacombs. Such mercy Rome could allow to the
body whose living thoughts and opinions she felt bound to crush — as foreseeing
that they contained the elements of her own dissolution. Christianity was bound
to dissolve the government of Caesar ; therefore Caesar, in the natural instinct
of self-defence, must do what he can against the Christian while it is yet time,
for the day is coming when Christianity will obliterate Caesar. In dismissing,
almost without description, M. Slingeneyer's important picture, we would merely
recall what has often been pointed out by its admirers, the admirable manage-
ment of the light, which relieves the hot glare of the circus against the deep
1
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
shadows of the cell, and allows one thread of intense sunshine to cross the
knees of the martyr, so often bent in prayer. We would point out, too, through
all the stark simplicity of two nude forms, how plainly shows the difference
between the heavy brutality of the attendant and the distinction of the young
Christian's figure, in its unconscious grace.
American art, not yet able to compete with that of European centres in
producing great figure-subjects, can best sustain comparison in works of marine
painting. In this line several of our artists have evinced peculiar powers of
perception and execution. Our selection of masterpieces contains three works
of decided excellence in marine or water-side study, which may be put with
some confidence beside the works of even able French painters, because the
ablest French painter can seldom look at the sea (at least from a vessel) with-
out becoming ill, and therefore cannot represent it sympathetically.
"Fog on the Grand Banks," by \V. E. Norton, of Boston, is a painting
whose very peculiar impressiveness steals on you after a period of contempla-
tion. The picture is filled with a sense of vapor — an evenness, a clearness of
mist, not too heavy, which makes a unity of everything in sea and sky. We
venture to compare it with a clearness, because it simplifies vision, discards the
emphasis of heavy shadow, and expands a subtle light over the whole face of
nature. Through this clear-obscure, the distant sails, the top of the light-house,
are faintly sketched. And out of the zenith of this purity of haze drops one
furtive ray, just catching in the bows of the nearest vessel, whose sails are
piled, like a mountain of marble, high into the sky. We have given a steel
engraving of this very expressive picture.
A fine coast-scene, with which our engraver has been uncommonly lucky,
is the view of Genoa, by George L. Brown, likewise a Bostonian. By slightly
emphasizing the radiance of the sun and its reflection, beyond the emphasis
used in the painting, the burin has arranged an effect of values compensating
for the pictorial effect of colors in the original, which of course was beyond its
grasp. Genoa is known to every picture-lover by the oft-painted amphitheatrical
view of its crescent of buildings as observed from the sea. Its aspect from a
near point of land is rather fresh and unfamiliar. Mr. Brown has arranged his
details with great skill, the bouquet of trees and old tower to the left forming
an excellent balance for the setting sun and its trail of glory on the other side
Christ Blessing Little Childr
y. La-vaielie, hn^.
214 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
of the picture. The breadth of water, which almost gives the painting the right
to be called a marine, recedes successfully from the eye, with a perfect sense
of knowing its right level.
Compare with either of these the "Lake George" of the late John F.
Kensett (page 52), in which, by-the-by, the proportion of water is of the smallest.
We are here in the presence of a talent formed upon the old English models.
Treatment of sky, treatment of breadths of lake or ocean, treatment and
drawing of trees, all recall the style of certain English water-colorists contem-
porary with Stanfield. Throughout his career Kensett worked in oils with the
traditions of water-color and distemper painting, and his best canvases have a
thin look in comparison with those of men who have used a more generous
impasto. In compensation, his works reveal a singular sense of space and
purity, his skies and sea-beaches seem uncontaminated, large and austere. The
delicate intricacy of his touch in foliage is partly indicated by our cut. Kensett
was born in 1818, studied at first in England (after an apprenticeship to the
engraver Dagget), and learned to sketch foliage by practising in Windsor
Forest. He died December 14th, 1872. His paintings are highly prized by
Americans, and with justice. His work has more freshness and realism than
that of Cole, and attracts to the study of Nature by a certain Wordsworthian
breadth and dignity of feeling.
- In the honorable history of American sculpture few names have stood
higher than that of William Wetmore Story; yet we think it cannot be denied
that the more intelligent art-lovers, who had heard his fame reported from that
Italian capital where he has lived so long, were somewhat disappointed in the
works he exhibited at the Centennial — his "Medea" and "Beethoven." Mr.
Story's residence abroad has been under circumstances agreeable and perilous
to an artist — he has kept within the circle of American and English colonists
at Rome. Here, in the receipt and exercise of good-hearted hospitality, visited
by American newspaper-correspondents apt to see' the best side of everything
American, or by English writers attracted by his eminent literary qualifications
and by the facts of his matrimonial connection — Mr. Story has long enjoyed the
fatal sweets of a common admiration-society. Those who remember. his delicate
and pathetic filial tribute at Mount Auburn — a portrait figure of his father, the
celebrated Judge Story, cut with a most patient and sensitive chisel — will per-
US. litenvatioiial Xdulitiou 187 6 .
GEBBIB &BARFrE
FINE ART.
215
haps think he would
have done better to
have remained in an
American atelier.
The "Medea" (which
we have engraved
on steel) in common
with the "Semiram-
is," "Sibyl" and
"Cleopatra," is a
work which some-
how convinces the
spectator of the
bookish culture of
its author ; and so
far it is well ; we
feel that he has ap-
proached his con-
ception through lit-
erature. As we look
upon the towering
and monumental fig-
ure of the murder-
ess-mother, through
whose head a whole
Fifth Act of stormy
emotions seems
sweeping, we feel
that the statuary has
compacted his theo-
ries after intimate
acquaintance with
Rome scarcely ever hears severe,
Munich, who sees the measure of
the tragedy of the
Greek Euripides,
and that of the Ro-
man Seneca. A mere
bookman, as in the
case of all this sculp-
tor's figures, is
strongly prepossess-
ed in contemplating
the work. An art-
proficient, however,
looks for technicali-
ties ; and it must be
confessed that in
matters of manipu-
lation, flesh-texture,
the hinges of the
bones, the stress of
muscle, the drawing
and playing of the
skin, and other such
requisites, — an art-
ist's want of ease in
which is like a coun-
tryman's want of
ease in grammar
or spelling, — Mr.
Story's work lacked
any very high dis-
tinction. How could
Thf Reader. it be Otherwise ? The
American artist in
healthy criticism, l^ilike the American artist in
his success as in a mirror in the publicity of art-
2i6 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIB ITION, 1876.
comradeship, in the enthusiastic appreciation of his Bavarian fellow-artists, and in
the discriminating- encouragement of his professor — unlike the American artist at
Paris, for whom the harsh grunts of the maitrc and the merciless irony of the
"school" quickly distinguish every fault and weakness — the Yankee at Rome is a
litde king, a great diner-out, a frequenter of "At Homes" and "Thursdays," one
of the sights of the city, and a power that may be cultivated or neglected, but
never weighed. Mr. Story has brought a better list of results out of this
unfavorable soil than might have been expected. The unmistakable seal of
book-culture on a work of art will always make it interesting to literary
people; and Mr. Story's "Medea" and "Cleopatra," his "Jerusalem" in the
Philadelphia Academy, his "Semiramis" and "Sibyl," are overgrown with this
creeping feeling of legend and tradition : no ignorant, unread man would ever
have conceived them so. As for the " Medea," we see her stand, as a female
tragedian on the stage, the grimness of murder in her attitude and gesture,
while the bleeding victims, according to the nice taste of the Greek drama, are
out of sight. One hand grasps the dagger ; the other, which has been sup-
porting her chin, is still clenched, as the head is lifted with the firmness of a
new-born purpose. This is that Medea — somewhat Americanized, as we fancy,
in type and visage — who stood before the Greeks in many a theatre, the
embodiment of jealousy and feminine revenge : the mother who could destroy
her offspring because their father had left her to wed another. We need hardly
remind the reader of the facts of the old classic story. The murder of Mer-
merus and Pheres, the children of Jason by Medea, is said by a Roman writer
to have been really committed by the Corinthians. Finding that Corinth suffered
in consequence, in reputation and by the scourge of pestilence, the inhabitants
of that city engaged Euripides, for five talents, to write a tragedy which should
clear them of the murder, and represent Medea as the assassin of her own
children. The ruse was a perfect success ; Corinth was rehabilitated, and the
poetic version has obtained credit with the remotest posterity, to the present
time; and, more wonderful than all, Euripides' fiction must have imposed upon
Jupiter himself, who seems to have promptly stopped the pestilence. Jason's
posterity by his second or Corinthian wife, Creusa, doubtless became the aris-
tocracy of that city, able to give the best possible reasons for their father's
having selected their mother as a resource from that violent, impracticable
FINE ART.
217
Medea ; and they doubtless enjoyed without hesitation their fortune derived from
the golden fleece, though it was all earned by Medea for their father. Mr.
Story, the sculptor of the "Medea," has just had the peculiar good luck of
seeing five of his largest statues at once sold and boxed up in his atelier for
delivery in a single
week. The other
day his "Delilah"
was thus encased,
awaiting transpor-
tation to California
to its purchaser,
Mr.Shilliber; while
a copy of his " Cleo-
patra," with the
"Vesta," "Alces-
tis," "Libyan .Sibyl"
and "Cleopatra"
were being packed
for the Pompeiian
Palace in Paris, for-
merly Prince Na-
poleon's, now the
Hungarian Count
Palffy's, who now
owns both the man-
sion and these val-
uable fiofures. We
/t^y/<WV^J^ ^
I Godehski, Sculpt. From a draitjtns l-y the
Moiijik Ivre.
cannot take leave
of this statue with-
out a reference to
the question of
damage done to
works of art in
the Exposition, of
which unfortunate-
ly the "Medea"
offered an example.
The knife in the
right hand, though
elevated above the
height of a man's
head by the dimen-
sions of the pedes-
tal, was broken off
at the hilt — a dis-
aster easily repair-
ed. The other in-
juries, very few,
considering that
the rooms were
generally not at first surrounded with railings, and that the crowds could not
be deprived of their umbrellas and sticks, were as follows : The Italian statue
"After the Bath," by Malfatti, had the middle and ring fingers broken ; the
remaining fingers, extended, accordingly represented a superstitious and vulgar
gesture in use among the lower Italians. The outrage was probably therefore
committed by an enemy and a native of Italy. Another Italian statue, "The
Reader" (439), had the litde book broken off, doubdess by a relic-hunter in
2i8 THE INTERNATIONAL EXH I B I TIO N, 1 8 76.
want of a paper-weight. In the Austrian department, a panel-picture called
"Children's Tenderness," by Berres, was scratched, and the great "Catherine
Cornaro," by Makart, was blistered, both owing to defective packing. Among
the German pictures, that of the Crown Prince had a hole pierced through the
thigh, and one other canvas was slightly marked. These, with a trifling damage
to a single American painting in the Art-Annex, comprise the sum of the muti-
lations, and on the whole form a high testimonial to the good manners of an
almost uncontrolled American crowd.
The fame of the Spanish school of art, which has been revived of late
years by the dazzling success of Fortuny and his fellows, caused a deep and
perhaps an exaggerated interest to be taken in the hardly adequate exhibit
made at Philadelphia. The picked works of Spanish art, to the number of
forty-six, occupied a room in Memorial Hall, while about two hundred less
select examples were arranged in the Art-Annex and in the Spanish Govern-
mental Pavilion in the Park.' Among the choicer selections, which ranged from
the religious works of Alonzo Cano and Morales, and the figure-subjects of
Velasquez and Spagnoletto, to the "Two Friends" of Agrassot and the "Jeanne
la F'olle" of Valles, we choose the pathetic example of Morales seen in our
steel engraving. Luis Morales was born at Badajoz in 1509, and died there in
1586. His life, addicted to the most ascetic kind of sacred art, was not a
prosperous one, and when Philip II, shortly before fitting out the Invincible
Armada for the conquest of England, happened to travel through Badajoz, a
gleam of remorse passed through his not often remorseful heart on finding
Morales, whom he had commanded to decorate the Escorial and then forgotten,
suffering from penury, age and neglect. He amended his unpressed orders
about the Escorial by paying him a pension without commanding any work in
return. Morales thus enjoyed for the remaining five years of his life an annuity
of three hundred ducats. He was called "The Divine," from the uniformly
religious character of his subjects, and is sometimes termed the Spanish Peru-
gino. His style indeed allies him to this and other "pre-Raphaelite" masters,
for he exhibits the anxious care in copying nature, the minuteness, and the
trace of hardness, which characterized the predecessors of the grand Urbinate,
and which are imitated by the English inventors of the term. It shows, how-
ever, how topsy-turvy in regard to dates, and how thoroughly independent and
FINE ART.
original and sui generis was the career of Spanish art, that this "early" master,
this exemplifier of the style that preceded Raphael, was literally a post-
Raphaelite. In his painting of the " Ecce Homo," the cross which the suffering
Saviour bears is a microscopic copy of a just hewn piece of timber, with all
the fibres, from which the sap seems to have scarcely dried, assiduously painted
like a bit of wood-grainer's work. Just so would Holman Hunt, or any other
modern emulator of the pre-Raphaelite masters, delight in painting. The whole
style of this picture, both in its quaintly exact drawing and in its pure naive
color, reminds us of John Bellini or of Perugino ; yet Morales comes into the
calendar of painters long after Bellini and Perugino, born respectively in 1422
and 1446. He is even considerably later in date than Raphael and Titian; for
he survived them both thirty or forty years, and first saw the light in the six-
teenth century, while they were born in the fifteenth. Fine specimens of "El
Divino Morales" may be seen in the University of Salamanca, justifying, says
Augustus J. C. Hare, the title of Morales to be called the Spanish Perugino
wJiich late ages have accorded him as an honor, but which Morales himself, in
his high Iberian pride, would have rejected as degrading.
Mr. George H. Boughton. like Leslie and Benjamin West, is a gift of
America to England ; he has developed, without seriously changing it, the style
he formed in this country, and is now pleasing with the results of American
art-lessons the most cultured classes of the old world. Mr. Boughton, at three
years of age, was brought to the United States, his parents being residents of
Norwich, England. His youth was passed at Albany in New York, and already
during his early life he impressed upon the American public a conviction that
a painter of uncommonly delicate and refined powers had arisen. One of his
patrons was Mr. August Belmont, who now exhibits in his gallery "The Lake
of the Dismal Swamp," our artist's early American work, in which it is easy to
recognize the wonderfully subtle landscape feeling which still pervades the
achieved masterpieces of this admirable painter. In the year 1853 Mr. Boughton
went to visit the family friends in Old England, being then nineteen years of
age. After some desultory wanderings and studies, he at length definitively
abandoned his American studio in i860, and passed to France, where he received
instructive hints in art matters from the accomplished genre painter Edouard
Frere. He presently crossed the Channel and settled his artistic lares and
.•! I "dhige of Artois in I [ 'inter.
FINE ART.
penates in London, where he still resides. The first picture of Mr. Boughton's
which made a sensation in England was "Passing into the Shade," exhibited at
the British Institute in 1863, and representing two old peasant women entering
the gloom of a forest, which symbolized, with that fine adaptation of landscape
sentiment to human feeling which Mr. Boughton has made a specialty, the
autumnal shadow of life. The specimen of which we offer an engraving (pages
194-5) is taken, with the largest and best class of the artist's works, from the
history of the Puritans in New England, which seems to have impressed Mr.
Boughton as forcibly, considered as a repertory of art-effects, as it did Haw-
thorne the novelist. Our selection is entitled "New England Puritans going to
Church." It represents a train of wayfarers passing with solemn caution through
a snowy landscape, the men armed to the teeth, except the venerable pastor,
whose defences are the holy book he carries and the good angel who walks by
his side in the person of a lovely daughter. The especial inspiration of this
picture was the following passage from "Bardett's Pilgrim Fathers": "The few
villages were almost isolated, being connected only by long miles of blind path-
way through the woods. . . . The cavalcade proceeding to church, the marriage
procession (if marriage procession could be thought of in those frightful days)
was often interrupted by the death-shot of some invisible enemy." Each figure
in the picture is seen against the snow — a sombre silhouette. Fathers, mothers
and innocent children proceed with serious. God-fearing expression through the
desolate landscape, of which any tree may hide a savage enemy. It is strange
and touching to watch these earnest men, in their peaked hats and leather
jerkins, each with a Bible in his belt and a musket on his shoulder. Such was
the terrible preparation which in those days was necessary for worshipping the
Prince of Peace. Our large engraving gives much of the austere charm of
this strange painting : it is easy to see, in the whole style of Mr. Boughton's
composition, the man of culture and broad historical ideas superadded to the
skilful painter. Every picture which leaves the tasteful studio at "Grove Lodge"
conveys this agreeable mixed impression, as if a delightful poet, a keen student
of men and events, and a man of high social position, had somehow got kneaded
into the clay of the gifted artist. Mr. Boughton has never forgotten the impres-
sions of his American life, and a large series of his most powerful works
represents the incidents of Pilgrim history, the finest undoubtedly being the
I
224 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
"Return of the Mayflower," to be seen in a Philadelphia gallery, — that of Prof.
Fairman Rogers. Owing to the mixed destiny which makes Mr. Boughton at
once a sufficiently good Englishman and a very loyal American, his contribu-
tions to the Centennial Exposition became mixed through the works delegated
from both countries. The "Puritans going to Church" and his "Going to Seek
his Fortune" were exhibited in the department of American art; his "God-
Speed," a large and important picture illustrating "Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress,"
was exhibited in that of British paintings.
Our illustration on page 197 represents an Italian painting of merit, "Noon
in tlu; Country," by Enrico Bartesago, a Milanese artist. P^om this faithful
transcript of actualities in the land of the Caesars it will be seen that the
Italian peasant of to-day by no means wears the rich [Mctorial costume to be
found in diose ideal pictures studied from Roman professional models — the
embroidered apron, the folded napkin on the head, the laced boddice and lull
white sleeves for the women, the knee-breeches and goatskin jacket lor the
men. Those garments are as false to nature as any costume got up for die
stage of the theatre, and what the Italian of the lower orders really looks like
is the dull, ill-dressed, slouching being seen in Bartesago's picture. Here is the
unadorned, every-day life of the contemporary contadino, which is a rather
sordid and squalid affair. The male laborers are apt to make the noontide
sicsfa a long chapter in their existence, and lounge with every mark of satis-
faction beside the implements of their toil, their sense of comfort being
enhanced with all the piquancy of contrast by the sight of their wives going
on in a course of labor which is heavy and unintermitted — for in Italy as well
as nearer home the proverb holds good that "women's work is never done."
Accordingly our artist shows one matron wheeling a barrow of turf, another
bending beneath a shoulder-load of faggots, while a stalwart maiden bears a
basket, and another is industriously hanging clothes to dry on the winter hedge.
This picture is a piece of good wholesome prose, a page of actual life tran-
scribed while the impression is fresh, and worth a great many canvases of
brigands or flower-girls copied from the vagabond actors and actresses who
lounge in the Piazza di Spagna in impracticable costumes.
Like most English paintings unsatisfactory in color, the noble design and
monumental composition of V. C. Prinsep's "Death of Cleopatra" make this
|li|ii|lt'''"^illf^lrlif()f'f1|lli'^'f fi"''ii' "'1,1/ 'lift j( 'ill
iiir,,iJ|ll11ilf7,'^fi«v%j|'"^|A
■■nil sc
-FLTULtlOBtS lysij-
Tmrn ©inisr^ ili®^issi
U, S TiiteiiiatLOiLalExihiJiitLcm.1876.
FINE ART.
225
picture peculiarly suited to the effects of engraving, and justify the ample
translation into black and white which we give of it on pages 202-3. It is a
vivid reflection from one of the most impressive pages of Plutarch: "Cleo-
E. Trovtbetta, Scidpt
The First Step.
patra/' says the versatile old historian, who ever seems to laugh or cry at need,
according to the burden of his subject, "has erected near the temple of Isis
some monuments of extraordinary size and magnificence. . . . Cleopatra sent
a letter to Caesar, and, ordering everybody out of the monument except her
226 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
two women, she made fast the door. . . . They found her quite dead, lying- on
her golden couch, and dressed in all her royal ornaments. Iras, one of her
women, lay dead at her feet, and Charmion, hardly able to support herself, was
adjusting- her mistress's diadem. One of Caesar's messengers .said angrily,
'Charmion, was this well done?' 'Perfectly well,' said she, 'and wordiy a
descendant of the kings of Egypt.' She had no sooner said this than she fell
down dead." Mr. Prinsep omits the incident of the asp, except so far as it is
suggested by the overturned basket of figs at Iras's feet. Cleopatra, with no
wound or scar upon the shapely fulness of her arm, sits on a deep-seated chair
or throne before a tripod, on which incense is burning to die manes of Antony;
laurels load this portable altar in memory of the warrior, and flowers and gar-
lands in his honor decorate the scene. In the background, behind the Egyptian
idol, is the doorway which will quickly give entrance to the emissaries of Octa-
vius. The queen, stately and superb in death, has just leaned her head back,
with perfect grace, on the throne, upon which the tottering Charmion supports
herself, while Iras, a beautifully posed and foreshortened figure, curls around
her mistress's feet with fond canine fidelity. The picture has the decorous,
measured harmony of a fine bas-relief.
Another British artist, Mr. William Ouiller Orchardson, contributed to the
Exhibition an admirable figure-subject, called "Prince Henry, Poins and Falstaff"
— as well as the beautiful marine view, which we have already illustrated, of
"Moonlight on the Lagoons of Venice." An excellent understanding of Shakes-
peare is evinced in this painter's treatment of the scene with "the wild Prince
and Poins," which we illustrate on page 205. We need but call to mind those
passages of "Henry IV" which earliest introduce us to the fat knight, to per-
ceive the full adequacy of Mr. Orchardson's interpretation. Falstaff is brought
to notice for the first time as a seedy hanger-on about the royal palace in
London, declaring that to be a hangman would jump with his humor as well
as waiting in the court, and idly thinking to make capital out of the brewing
rebellion of Douglas and Owen Glendower. To lighten the drama which is
dedicated to such great events, Shakespeare creates the colossal jest of the
sham highway-robbery at Gadshill ; and our artist delineates its inception. The
madcap Prince is flinging his wild oats abroad, thinking little of his father's
cares, and adopting the incorrigible Falstaff as his bear-leader ; Poins is his
FINE ART.
227
chum, the Achates of this
^neas, the dissolute Horatio
of this Hamlet out-of-mou ru-
ing. In the palace guard-
room is the fine project of the
amateur highwaymen hatched.
Poins bursts in with the news,
"My lads, my lads, early to-
morrow morning, at Gadshill,
there are pilgrims going to
Canterbury with rich offer-
ings . . . we may do it as se-
cure as sleep ! If you wjll go,
I will stuff your purses full
of crowns ; if you will not,
tarry at home and be hanged!"
The Prince listens, and de-
murs, and consents. "Who,
I?_rob?— I a thief? Not I,
by my faith," he says at first;
and a moment after, "Well,
then, once in my days I'll be
a madcap." In another minute
he is for giving up the scheme,
upon which Falstaff leaves the
half-hearted robber for Poins
to operate on alone. This is
the moment chosen by the
painten Falstaft turns his
broad back upon the pair of
wild lads, with a devout invo-
cation to Heaven that the
Prince may become a thief:
and young Henry calls after
Apelles.
228 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i S 7 6.
him, "Farewell, thou latter spring, farewell, all-hallown summer!" The brace of
untamed spirits form a group at the left, and a broad space of wall, which
somehow links the composition together instead of introducing a dissonance,
intervenes between them and the huge knight, who leaves the scene with the
waddling motion common to women of the people and plethoric men of quality.
We know how it will turn out — that Falstaff and his rabble will commit the
robbery, to be in turn robbed by Prince Henry, upon which the old rogue will
invent his magnificent tale ot being set upon by eleven men in buckram. Mr.
Orchardson's composition is original, peculiar and singularly artistic, notwith-
standing that it is of the flat order, with little depth and no perspective in
particular. It is like one of those intermediate scenes in a th(^atrical act, played
against a wall, while carpenters are operating behind for the next grand set-out
that will show how deep the stage is. The varied powers evinced in this figure-
subject and the "Lagoons of Venice" give an interest to the biography of the
painter. Mr. Orchardson is an Associate of the Royal Academy; he was born
in Edinburgh in 1835, and '^ consequently forty-two years of age; his portraits
were noticed in an e.xhibition of the Scottish Academy so early as 1861 ; he
came to London in 1863; his "Christopher Sly" was favorably regarded in the
Paris International Exposition of 1867; the present picture of "Falstaff, Poins
and Henry" was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1868.
The group illustrated on page 207 — "The Beggars," by R. Galli, of Milan —
stands out conspicuously from the generality of Italian sculpture by a whole-
some severity of style, and the entire absence of ornament. It is refreshing
at length to find an Italian carving that is not baroque. The mother and child
in this group are clothed from head to foot. The modest and rigid drapery of
the woman falls in perpendicular folds, skilfully broken by the gesture with which
she catches up her apron to her bosom, in a bashful way, while she almost
hides the contribution-cup which mendicants of a bolder sort protrude so
ofificiously. The little boy, whose lithe Italian figure is quite lost in the rough
bunchy roundabout and trowsers bungled by the unskillful needle of poverty,
is provided with a good large hat for collection-taking, but he does not proffer
it. The traditions of a wholesome family piety, as this is understood in Italy,
are evinced in the talismans worn by both — the cross hung around the neck
of the boy, and the sacred medal on the bosom of the woman. Just as these
FINE ART.
timid poor folk
appeal to the
heart by their
ignorance of the
brazen art of
beggary, so the
sculptor is at
some advantage
over his decora-
tive compeers by
his inability or
intentional neg-
lect to follow the
lines of beauty
and the grimaces
of grace.
Another Italian
piece of sculp-
ture, Tantarclini's
"Reader" (page
215), though con-
ceived in a vein
which does not
admit of such ab-
solute simplicity
as the last, is
likewise distin-
guished by a
search after re-
pose and the
absence of mere-
tricious orna-
ment. A patri-
cian maiden, at
The Festival.
once stately and
simple, is seen
walking slowly
torward reading
a letter. Her
dress, of antique
cut, moulds with-
in its narrow
closeness the
firmness of the
fair young torso,
and touches of
embroidery and
a hem of lace
give accent to
its strictness here
and there. The
beautifully -mod-
eled head, wear-
ing only the
honors of its
abundant hair, is
slightly bent over
the written page.
The spectator
thinks of Ophelia
receiving the cel-
ebrated love-let-
ter, "Oh, dear
Ophelia, I am ill
at these num-
bers ; I have not
art to reckon my
pToans — but that
230 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
I love thee best, O most best, believe it." We prefer this figure to the same
artist's "Bather," engraved on page 72.
A very different artistic problem is that which M. Cyprien Godebski pro-
poses to himself. His "Drunken Moujik" (page 217) is an effort in the
direction of the closest realism. This disheveled head is tottering with drunken-
ness — not the fiery drunkenness of excitable Southern lands, but the colossal,
concentrated stupor of Russia. This broad pug nose has been dipped for hours
in the cup of ki^'as, that foaming brown beer which the brewer of Moscow
knows how to make out of soaked crusts of black rye bread. The narrow
forehead and the broad Tartar cheek-bones reveal the nationality of this help-
less subject, whom the artist has succeeded in catching from the very life. The
spirit of the reproduction is surprising ; the stujjid glance of the dim eyes, the
helpless roll of the heavy head, have been caught, as it were, on the wing ;
for once the marble has contrived to play the part of the instantaneous photo-
graph. Of this odd and characteristic study we are enabled to offer our
readers the artist's own record. The sketch is from M. Godebski's hand ; and,
though it may look rough and uncouth to a public spoiled by the professional
smoothness of the ordinary engraver, to the artistic eye it is peculiarly precious.
The lines of expression, the indications of texture, are all authentic and at first
hand. Every touch tells, and the draughtsman contrives, by simply changing
from a contiguous to a jagged stroke, to express the difference between the
long brush-like hair of the scalp and the matted and filthy beard, cemented
with icicles and spattered mud during a whole month's drive in the three-
horse troika. We are glad to vary, with work of a very different nationality
and complexion, the full exhibit we feel bound to make of Italian statuary.
M. Godebski exposed this bust among the contributions from Belgium ; he is,
however, something of a cosmopolitan, being an academician of Saint Peters-
burg, and residing at present at Neuilly, on the outskirts of Paris. He was
born in 1835.
On page 225 we give an engraving of a Milanese piece of sculpture, by
Signor Trombetta, who sent less of his work than many of his compatriots of
Italy, but of whose artistic and agreeable style we should like to see more
examples. It is called "The First Step" — or, as an inscription on the base, in
the cosmopolitan language of France, expresses it, "Tihibaiitc," or "Toddling."
FINE ART.
231
The simple grace
of this figure jus-
tifies our return
to the oft- illus-
trated sculpture
of Italy. A charm-
ing little girl,
whose short skirt
is artfully drop-
ped from one
shoulder so as to
reveal as much
as possible of her
fair chubby per-
son, is hovering
over a chicken
which she wants
to catch, and
which steps about
with the distract-
ing uncertainty
and ubiquity and
elusive fortuitous
way of chicken-
kind from time
immemorial.
When you stoop
for a chicken that
looks as it it had
made up its mind
to stay in that
particular spot
for a competent
length of time,
E. y. r^yiittr, Fi>ix
The Golden Age,
the chicken is
suddenly gone,
and is picking
nonchalantly for
food in a spot
just alongside.
This wily beha-
vior of chicksy's
will directly bring
our youthful
sportswoman
down upon all-
fours in a state
of ruin ; and the
downy fledgeling,
not much more
secure on its feet
than its pursuer,
will go on with
the game, with
inexhaustible rel-
ish and enjoy-
ment, as far as
baby pleases, or
as the barn-yard
extends. Is there
not something
strange and baf-
fling about the
shyness, the air of
"keep-your-dis-
tance," in many
domestic crea-
tures? Wherever
232 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
man settles on the globe, they follow him, and thrive only in his close com-
panionship; but the,y never permit a real personal intimacy or contact, and they
keep up, in the very warmth and tenderness of the snuggest human home, the
untamable Diana-like reserve implanted with their earliest ancestors in the wild-
wood. The distance which this little chick instinctively maintains between its
wee self and the baby's gathering grasp is symbolical of the distance between
ourselves and the vast inexplicable heart of Nature — between, shall we say, the
civilized gods of Olympus and the wild and mighty Pan. The firm-set barrier
between two races of Heaven's creatures — a barrier thawing but never warming —
is what Trombctta's pretty symbol expresses, and is well defined in the cold
material of sculpture. But sculpture has detained us long enough for the
present, and we will turn our attention again to the pictures.
It is high time now that we should represent another work of Benjamin
West's, a painter who has a peculiar function in connecting the art of Philadel-
phia with that of the old world. While the Queen and the Royal Academy
respectively lent to the Exposition his "Death of Wolfe" (engraved by us on
page 53) and "Christ Blessing Little Children" (page 213), and his "Moses
.Striking the Rock" was placed by an American owner in the Twelfth Gallery
of the Art-Annex, these achievements of his maturity were contrasted with the
crude portrait-work of his youth, in specimens exhibited in the city museums,
not to say in the houses of city families, representing the half-dozen years he
supported himself as a likeness-taker in Philadelphia. The "Christ Blessing
Little Children" Is an uncommonly agreeable specimen of West's occasionally
dry and formal style. There is, of course, not the slightest oriental cachet about
it; the Hebrew modiers are English brides of the Mrs. Opie type, and a Roman
landscape and vault, derived from much study of Poussin, form the background ;
but the attitude of the Saviour is eminently good, the carriage of his head is
free and noble, and there is a happy expression of movement about his figure.
St. Peter, who immediately receives the rebuke, is a fine and even a Jewish per-
sonage, and the graceful feet of the dandled child, and the confidence with which
he plays with the Saviour's hand as the latter points, are happily conceived.
There was much disposition, in the last decade, to ridicule West; but this feeling
has given way to one of greater justice, and it is conceded that, without being
endowed with the hot fire of frenius which belongs to the innovators and
FINE ART. 233
creators in art, he exerted a valuable conservative influence in England for
nearly half a century, and evolved a vast life's work with energy and power.
We have already engraved, on page 76, a fine landscape of Emile Breton's,
and have described his curious rustic life on page 86. He sent another country
scene to Philadelphia, in its way not inferior to that we first engraved, and we
give our readers a representation ot it on page 219, by a newly invented etching
process which capitally represents the quality of a sky charged with snow, and
of a perspective of white roofs and slushy roads. "A Village in Winter" is
painted with infinite skill, in the style called in the latest slang of French studios
the "impressionist" style. No time is wasted in needless detail, but the effort
is to stamp, almost at a blow, the virgin imprint of a scene received by the
eye at its first glance. By recording this, in large, hasty, inspired touches, the
textures, qualities, reliefs, and colors of the principal masses in a scene are
fixed ; and if successful, a more vivid suggestion is produced than was always
possible by the old painful and highly-wrought methods. This picture of Breton's
gives the aiiimus of a damp, snowy, heavy day. It makes the spectator feel
exactly as he felt the last time he had to go out in similar weather; and this
involuntary feeling is just what many an exquisitely-wrought winter-piece never
gives at all, and is one of the highest triumphs of an artist. We breathe this
bitter weather. We take the water-mark, as it were, upon the pulp of the
spirit, and it is thenceforth indelible. It is a success that only a genuine artist
can achieve.
Having introduced Mr. Poynter, the English artist, to the good-will of our
readers with such a beautiful pleader as his "Ibis Girl" (the subject of one of
our most graceful steel-plates), we will e'en exhaust the contribution made by
this painter to the Philadelphia Fair, by introducing copies of his other works
seriatim. The sketch with an arched top on page 227 represents Mr. Poynter's
cartoon for a fresco to fill one of the spaces in an arcade at the South Ken-
sington Museum. To the British painter was confided as a subject a great
painter of old — "Apelles." The artist delineates his predecessor as a young
Greek, standing in all the gallantry of life's early prime, his locks dark around
his broad forehead, an archaic decorated vase, representing the origin of Grecian
painting, at his feet. In his left hand is a square tablet, on which the waxen
colors were laid, and which led up in time to the modern palette. His left
236 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
hand rests upon his picture of Venus Anadyomene. This is the first example
of the painter-courtier — the retainer who multiphes portraits of his royal patrons
through a lifetime, like Velasquez in the court of Philip IV. Apelles repre-
sented Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, and subsequendy became the
portraitist allowed a monopoly of painting Alexander's likeness ; the conqueror,
and his horse, and his generals, he repeatedly delineated on the walls of Mace-
donian palaces. Apelles was initiated into the mysteries of Eleusis, a mark of
culture and aristocracy. It was on the return from this sacred festival, in the
sofdy-rounded bay of Eleusis, that he saw Phryne, the most beautiful woman
in Greece, emerging from the sea and wringing out her locks \\\)on the beach.
He thereupon painted Phryne as Venus, and again in his old age, at Cos,
endeavored to repeat the delineation on a more faultless scale of perfecdon,
and died before he could finish it. His repeated attempts to give the Grecians
an adorable Venus led our artist to represent a panel with this subject in the
hand of the most accomplished painter of antiquity. Mr. Poynter's cartoon,
with one or two more by other hands from the same series, occupied at Phila-
delphia a room entirely dedicated to South Kensington and its course of
instruction.
In the end of the long corridor which led to the litde room containing
Frith's "Marriage of the Prince of Wales" — set up on either side of the door
like panels, and very neady fitting the space — were Mr. Poynter's "Fesdval"
and "Golden Age," of which we present engravings on page 229 and page 231.
Notwithstanding the bricky flesh-color — so litde like English flesh, of all flesh
in the world — which pervaded almost completely the exhibit of British paintings,
and was very conspicuous with Mr. Poynter, his pictures pleased, on account of
their elegant drawing, their happy subjects, and their fortunate and becoming
position. "The Festival" represented two graceful Greek maids of the andque
dmes, dressing with garlands an Ionic pordco, perhaps for the recepdon of a
bride. The "Golden Age" showed again a pair of figures, this time both males.
Two lads were gathering pears into a basket from an overburdened tree. The
period was so early that they had not yet invented much costume, and their
primeval energy had seemingly exhausted itself in constructing the ladder with
which they reached the fruit, and the basket into which they piled it. The
harmonv of lines was very satisfactory in these pictures, but most particularly
(If.
pil'
238 THE INTERNATIONAL EXH IB IT I O N, 1S76.
so in the female subject ; and in this, again, the draperies were of faultless and
even conspicuous beauty — light, complicated, natural and inventive, without a
particle of that marble look which results when a painter of antique scenes lets
himself be too much enamored of antique statues. Our readers, we are sure,
will especially admire this happy classical subject of "The Festival," wherein
the two fair figures, closely intertwined, form Hogarth's line of beauty, or the
"long S."
Some writers tell us that Toledo was the cradle of Spanish art, fostered
by the wealthy churchmen of the metropolitan cathedral. Others say that Bar-
celona and Saragossa, from their early connection with Italy, through commerce,
were the first places in the peninsula to feel the influence of that country in
taste for art. Except for anticpiarian purposes, it may be assumed, generally,
that the latter half of the fifteenth century was die period when Spanish art
began to assert itself, in a more or less tentative way. The conditions of its
progress, however, were very different from those of any other school in Europe,
Elsewhere the revival of intellectual life was accompanied by an awakened
taste for the Greek and Roman classics and mythology, which supplied artists,
when they too appeared in the general movement, with an infinity of subjects
for inventive treatment.
No such opening presented itself to the Spanish painter. The polidcal
history of his country debarred him from any knowledge even of the picturesque
and romantic beliefs of ancient nations. Everything that was not of Christian
origin had for ages been identified with the dominion of the Moors, aliens in
blood and in creed. Yet, little as the Spaniard would confess it, in every
department of secular learning, his country owed much to that Arab immigra-
tion which had brought in its train a knowledge of astronomy and its kindred
sciences, and through which even Greek philosophy was once more restored to
Europe. But a feud, deadly and lasting, separated the native Spaniard from
the descendants of his ancient oppressors. What was not Christian was Moorish,
and therefore detested and avoided. Thus limited to a field of small dimen-
sions, revived art had no choice but to reproduce scenes in the history of
Christianity, or to paint portraits from the life ; and such, in fact, is a summary
of Spanish art-subjects, even of the period of its greatest eminence. Land-
scape, except as an auxiliary to sacred history and portraiture, is comparatively
FINE ART.
239
rare. Another efficient cause of the exclusively relig-ious character which is
stamped on the art of Spain was the all-powerful and all-pervading influence
of the Inquisition, dwarfing and withering all originality, all invention, all thought
that dared to express itself, except in the stereotyped forms permitted to a
nation that was held in perpetual leading-strings. Nay, even in religious art,
the rule of the
"Holy Office" was
maintained in a
series of regula-
tions as to the
treatment of such
subjects ; the col-
ors, the attitudes,
proper to various
classes of saints,
for example, were
all defined and
strictly enforced
under the eyes of
a hundred cen-
sors, who kept
watch on every
studio, on every
picture-dealer's
window. Nor was
the office of cen-
sor restricted to
sacred subjects.
Affeclion and Envy.
The most rigid
prohibition of the
nude struck a di-
rect blow at all
attempts to repro-
duce scenes from
classical mythol-
ogy. A life school,
in the modern
sense, was not to
be thought of
Considering the
systematic com-
pulsion under
which artists had
to work, it is a
matter of wonder
that they could
produce what they
did produce, when
thus laboring in
fetters. But so
it was : and this
must ever be borne in mind, in estimating the productions of the Spanish
school.
Whatever may have been the earliest beginnings of painting in .Spain, after
the Gothic conventionalities were dropped, the history of its art practically
resolves itself into three divisions relating to as many chief centres or schools.
There was the school of Castile, originating at Toledo, at some imperfectly
240 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
ascertained date in the titteenth century. As Madrid grew in importance, under
Philip II and his successors, Toledo was superseded, as the art-centre, just as
Valladolid had ceased to be the political capital ; and Madrid thenceforth gave
its name to the scliool oi Castile. Then the school of Andalusia, with its centre
at Seville, entered into rivalry with the other, both in the matter of its antiquity
and of the eminence of its painters. "The beautiful terra BaticaT says Sir
W. Stirling Maxwell, "was prolific of genius. The country of Lucan, of Seneca,
of Trajan, and of Averroes, brought forth Vargas, Velasquez and Murillo."
Valencia gives its name to the third principal school of Spain, which took
its rise from two foreign artists ; their nationality is disputed, but they executed
some important decorative work in the cathedral, near the close of the fifteenth
century. The school of Castile, also, on several occasions was indebted to the
visits of artists from Flanders and Italy. It remains a matter undecided whether
Titian actually visited Charles \ in Spain, or whether their frequent intercourse
took place only at Bologna and other cities of Italy. Certain it is that the
intimate connection maintained during the reign of the Emperor, and that of
his son, Philip, between Spain and Italy, introduced many works of the Italian
masters into the Peninsula, examples of which, at this da)', adorn the National
Museum at Madrid.
Such were the chief schools, or art-centres, of Spain. They had this in
common, that they were all of them, more or less, connected with the art-
traditions of Italy, and all were alike distinguished by their severely devotional
character. The Church was their best patron ; and whether patron or not, the
Church took care to exercise a maternal superintendence of their style and
e.xecution. It was under her direct command that Pacheco laid down this canon,
as his Arte de la Pintura : "It is the chief end of the works of Christian art
to persuade men to piety, and bring them to God." With so exclusive a motive,
how could painters much differ one from another ? why should they ever dream
of leaving the beaten track ? In fact, many of them made a religious exercise
of their art ; like Fra Angelico, they prepared themselves, by the reception of
the eucharist, for the commencement of an important work. Others were noted
for the austerity of their lives and practices. It is related of Vargas, not only
that he frequendy used the discipline of the scourge, but that he kept a coffin in
his house, and used to lie down in it, from time to time, to meditate on death.
'^m^
U. i , Intsmalional Exhilitiojiia 7 6
bV*
'•sw^
li' 11 R J O S H PA K EITT O JI -
FINE ART.
241
242 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Some of the painters were ecclesiastics, and of course saw everything
through an atmosphere of incense and with the plain-song's distant murmur in
their ears. Can we wonder that this world and its interests counted for little
with those men, or that, as a rule, their conceptions, even of tlie future world,
were gloomy and monotonous, and unattractive to the taste of "Philistines"?
Wandering through the Spanish Court and glancing again at the "Ecce
Homo" by Morales, El Divino, one of the best specimens of his divine hand,
we remember the story of his smart repartee to the king, who, when passing
through Badajoz, was waited upon by Morales. "You are very old. Morales,"
remarked Philip. "Yes, sire, and very poor," was the reply. On which, the
king desired his treasurer to pay the artist a pension of two hundred ducats
"for his dinner." "And for supper, sire?" rejoined the old man — a word
of repartee which gained him another hundred ducats, as the story goes.
Morales was never out of Spain ; yet he managed to clothe his devotional
subjects with the feeling and expression associated with Italian art, and more
particularly with the school of Rome. The elaborate finish of his pictures,
always painted on panel, and the purity and grace of their composition, pro-
cured for Morales the tide of the Parmegiano of Spain. He seems to have
thrown his best and most characteristic work into representations of the Cru-
cifixion, and of the dead Redeemer on His Mother's knees, called a Pieta, in
Italy. Such a picture, among others of his, may be seen in the Spanish Gallery,
Louvre. The painter's finest works were formerly preserved in his native city,
but the French pioneers of civilization robbed it of four of them, and time and
repainting have ruined the rest. Others may be looked for even in compara-
tively obscure churches in Estremadura. "With Morales," says Sir E. Head,
"pure Christian feeling ceased in the school of Castile. His son and others
of his pupils imitated him with little success, yet so as to injure his reputation,
for their weak productions have not unfrequently been attributed to the master
himself."
While the Spanish section, considered as a whole, is most unsatisfactory, it
nevertheless contains a goodly number of very superior pictures, and so far as
we are able to judge from these, the traditions of the noblest epoch of the art
of painting have survived in Spain with greater force than in any other country.
A considerable portion of the wall-space in the western gallery in the Memorial
FINE ART.
243
Hall allotted to the Spanish pictures is occupied by large works, and several
of them have merits of a very positive kind. Such pictures as "Torquato
Tasso Returning to the Monastery of San Onohe," by G. Maureta ; "The
A. Fartholdi. Sculp.
Tile Young Vine-Grou
Landing of Columbus," by D. Puebla ; "Christopher Columbus in the Monastery
of La Rabida," and "The Last Moments of Don Fernando IV, el Emplazado,"
by I. Casado, are of various degrees of badness, and may be dismissed with a
mere mention, while "The Landing of the Puritans in America," by A. Gisbert
244 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHI HITION, 1876.
although it is a better piece of work than the others named, is chiefly inter-
esting because no one hereabouts would ever have expected a Spanish artist
to choose such a theme. "The Landing of Columbus" (see sketch on Spanish
art view, page 241) is, or ought to be, an entirely congenial theme with a
Spanish painter, but "The Landing of the Puritans" — that is a very different
matter.
Of the paintings which demand notice on account of their merits, "The
Burial of San Lorenzo at Rome," by A. \'era, is one of the most important.
The Raphaelesque draperies and statuesque poses of the group which sur-
rounds the bier of the martyr are reminiscences of a former age and of a
style of artistic workmanship for which there is but a very limited demand in
these days. There is much eloquence in these figures, but they are expres-
sionless, and in seeking for repose the artist has drifted into inanity. The
figure of the dead deacon who has joined the noble army of martyrs is, how-
ever, very beautiful. Peacefulness, restfulness and bliss beyond the grave are
expressed in the slight smile that hovers about the half-parted lips, and it
needed not the aureole about the head to indicate that, having been faithful
until death, he has obtained his reward.
The sentiment whicii is so well expressed in this picture also finds expres-
sion in "The Translation of .St. Francis of Assisi," by B. Mercade. In this the
canvas is crowded with figures, a group of nuns being represented standing at
the foot of the couch, while at the head stands a bishop who is reading the
service for the dead, and a number of ecclesiastics. Simply considered as a
composition, this is a very superior work. The story is effectively told, and
nearly all of the figures are admirable studies — those of the nuns in particular
being exceedingly fine. Among the individual figures, that of the acolyte beside
the bishop, who turns his head for a moment to look towards the spectators,
as if attracted by some occurrence in a distant part of the room, is worthy of
special praise.
"The Death of the Count of Mllamediana," by 1\L Castellano, is a very
dramatic composition. We know nothing of the story, but the situation is
expressed with great force by the artist : and without knowing who the Count
of Villamediana was, or what cause he died for, the spectator is able to enter
into the emotions of the crowd which con^reeates about his bodv. The dead
FINE ART. 245
man is represented as lying on the ground, in a pool of blood, under the shadow
of a gateway. Some one is examining his wound by the light of a lantern
held by an acolyte in attendance upon a stern-faced priest, who forms one of
the crowd gathered about the corpse. In the street beyond, a crowd of people
fill the windows and balconies of the houses, and it is evident that the death
of the Count has been preceded by a great turmoil of some kind. The gray
light in the street indicates that it is late in the afternoon of a dark and cloudy
day, and the different effects of light are most skillfully managed. This is cer-
tainly one of the best historical pictures in the Exhibition, and is especially
noteworthy from the fact that, although it deals with such a subject, it is free
from any suspicion of sensationalism, and is marked by a dignity and a genuine
dramatic power such as we too seldom see in modern works of kindred
theme.
"The Insanity of Donna Juana of Castile," by L. Valles, of which we show
a sketch on the view of the Spanish section of the Art Gallery, page 241, is
also a very genuinely dramatic work. The heroine of this picture refused to
believe that her husband was dead, and would not permit his burial. The artist
has shown her after having swept away the flowers which had been placed upon
the dead man's pillow, making a gesture of silence to those who are pleading
with her. The figure of the mad woman is a thoroughly fine piece of painting,
but the other figures — especially that of the kneeling old man in the green
mantle — are rather commonplace. The artist has evidendy expended his
energies upon the principal figure, and although he has told his story with
exceptional power, he has failed to achieve a work which will command unre-
served admiration.
The "Duel in the Seventeenth Century," which hangs above the north
doorway, is painted with much force, and the figure of the disarmed man who
is leaning against the wall is admirably drawn, and is most spirited in action.
The other figure, however, is not particularly good, and the pose certainly is
not the most expressive that the artist could have chosen.
One of the finest works in the section is that entided "The Prayer," by
A. Munoz Degrain, although there are others that are superior to it in some
special qualities. In this a group of nuns are shown joining in the evening
services of a church adjoining their convent, from which they are separated by
H ^,/.//'/.,-
248 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
an iron grating. The sentiment of such a scene is expressed with much felicity,
and simply as a tone study, the picture is one of remarkable merit.
Near this picture is "The Two Friends" — a litde peasant girl asleep on
the crround, with a white kid beside her. This is a very clever work — a little
dingy in color, but finely drawn and skillfully handled.
The "Capuchin Monk before the Roman Conclave," by Francisco Jover,
has the appearance of being a very literal record of an interesting scene,
although it is lacking in picturesqueness. The Pope is shown seated on his
throne, surrounded by a number of ecclesiastical dignitaries, while before him
kneels a friar, who is apparently the subject of the paper which one of the
purple-clad personages is reading. All the figures are full of character and
individuality, and are doubtless very accurate portraits ot the Pope and his
immediate councillors.
The "Choir of Capuchin Monks," by R. Navarette, is a remarkably fine
interior study, the subdued tones of the dimly illuminated apartment being
rendered most skillfully. The section, in addition to this picture, contains a
number of very interesting representations of interiors, the majority of which
are by Perez Pablo Gonzalvo. Of these, the largest and most elaborate is the
interior of the Cathedral of Saragossa.
Few of the landscapes in the Spanish section possess much merit. There
are a couple, however, in the west gallery in the Memorial Hall by Carlos D.
Haes, which are rather superior performances. They are entitled "Suburbs of
Madrid" and "Reminiscences of the Pyrenees." The subjects are similar —
blue mountains in the distance, a rich and fertile country between them and
the spectator, and some broken ground in the foreground — and in each the
effect of a subdued sunlight such as would be due to a vapor-filled atmosphere,
is very happily expressed.
The American school of landscape-painting is the only one we can boast
of as possessing a strongly marked individuality. Our best landscape-painters
are at least original and distincdy American in their styles, even if in some
particulars they fail to accomplish all that is accomplished by their European
rivals. This is something to be grateful for, and there is no pleasanter task
that a visitor to the Art Department of the Exhibition can put before him than
to make a comparison between some of the best renderings of natural scenerj'
FINE ART.
24y
The Wiuii^ Motlu.
250 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
of the American section and those of the French, Belgian, Austrian and Itahan
sections.
In ilkistration of our comparison we would recommend to the attention of
our readers any of the paintings by American landscape artists illustrated in
our pages, especially the two steel engravings of paintings by James M. Hart
and J. F. Cropsey, named respectively "Landscape and Catde" and "The Old
Mill." Mr. Hart's picture bespeaks the earnest enthusiast in every detail of his
masterly work. The drawing and grouping of the catde, the correct handling
of perspecdve and atmosphere, the pleasing result of light and shade, all stamp
the artist as a worker in the very first rank. "The Old Mill" of Cropsey
shows much of the best qualities common in Hart's ; but the treatment of the
water in the mill-stream is a little too sparkling, the sheen or gleam absorbing
the attention of the beholder to the exclusion of the patiently worked details
of the surroundings ; though, on the whole, hardly equal to Mr. Hart's picture,
it is far above mediocrity'.
Compare these landscapes with M. Van Elten's "Heath-Field in Holland,"
or Henrietta Ronner's "The Last Hope" — both of which we engrave on steel —
two of the best pictures in the Department of the Netherlands, and the reader
will feel that we have no occasion to fear the comparison. The painting by
Henrietta Ronner, "The Last Hope," we have named as a masterpiece of land-
scape art, although it would more properly be classed as an animal-painting.
The open country in Avhich the hare is chased by the setter-dog is fragrant of
autumn stubble; the pathway-plank over the brook, towards which "poor puss"
is hurrying on in hope of escape, is the primitive, insecure "make-shift" with
which all country frequenters are familiar; the choice of the dog (not the
English greyhound, which would have made the chase a dead certainty, but a
thoroughbred setter, who really has no business chasing a hare at all, his proper
mission, if carefully trained, being to "point" or "set," not to chase, a hare)
shows that the artist intended that the "Hope" should be hope in reality, for
the hare's chance of escape from a setter, every sportsman knows, is not a
forlorn one. We have seen a visitor, on entering the Netherlands Department
of the Art-Annex during the hot days of July, when few visitors were there,
place his hands on his knees and stoop to await the result, so interesting and close
looks the struggle between dog and hare. This picture is in everj' way a success.
•^s
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'^if^fi'
-,-* ^i^T"'^^"^-
.- 4:: ,v "■ . ■- -
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252 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
"Heath-Field in Holland," by R. Van I'dten, is one of those quiet nooks
comnion in Europe — the streamlet issuing- from a clump of scrubby trees,
among which stands a stout and shady giant with gnarled trunk, whose leafy
shadow over the pool where the stream emerges into the open is suggestive
of trout and pike ; the rich carpet of heath, variegated with wild flowers, and
the cool gray atmosphere and cloudy sky account for the sleepy shepherd and
his dog, and quiet sheep wending their way aimlessly on the distant horizon.
Turning to the right hand in the Netherlands Art Gallery from Henrietta
Ronner's "Last Hope," the picture which strikes the beholder most prominently
is Gempt's illustration of La Fontaine's fable, "The Cat Feigning Death," of
which we have made a steel engraving. An immense gray and white tabby
(the white of the cat being exceedingly clean, and the gray correspondingly
tresh) is suspended by the hind legs, according to the well-known fable, and
the rats, who have become so cunning as to be next to impossible to catch,
being cautiously satisfied that the cat is really d<_-ad, proceed to discuss traps
and cats and other enemies to their loeace in a free and unreserved manner.
.\ steel spring-trap to the left has been sprung and nearly caught one of the
largest rats ; indeed it has caught and abridged his tail close to the root. This
must have been some hours ago, for he has by this time regained his compo-
sure and returns with the rest, and the picture catches him in the act of
examining, in a thoughtful mood, the appendage which formerly helped him to
steer his way in the worUl. Two old fellows, in order to "make assurance
doubly sure," are on their hind legs, stretched up to see whether the cat be
really dead, and a white old mother-rat with a family of six is learnedly
warning her brood of the traps and pitfalls and cat wiles which endanger the
\outhful prime of inexperienced rathood. An old-fashioned rat-trap appears on
the right, which two dark gray fellows are engaged in inspecting in a curious
and contemptuous manner. The cat sees and hears all this — as the cat is alive
and looks painted alive, for there never was such a healthy skin on a dead
cat. The light and shadow of the cellar in which the scene is appropriately
cast are admirably rendered, and we observe that the picture is sold, which
shows that it has found an appreciative admirer who meant business.
A most important ])icture is tlie finished steel engraving ol the "Portrait
of Sir Joshua Reynolds," from a painting by himself. This painting is one
THE CAT TFEIG-I^i;^© BEATffic
TJ, S,lateniationalEdiLbltloi-Ll876
SESBIE * EARKIE .
FINE ART. 253
of the few pictures in the north-west gallery, where most of the British
loan pictures are grouped, that justifies the repute in which the artist was
held. This is a thoroughly satisfactory example of a good style of painting.
There is a simplicity, an absence of anything approaching trickiness, and
a manly vigor in the modeling of this head, that is in marked contrast to
the work of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who is represented by two pictures— a
portrait of the late Lord Ashburton, and a large canvas containing the portraits
of the three first partners of the house of Baring. This last named is the
best picture of Lawrence's, but there is no such workmanship upon it as we
find in the portrait of Reynolds, which might with great propriety have been
catalogued "The Portrait of a Gentleman," for any one who knows anything
of the history of the Fine Arts need not be informed what a model gendeman
he was. Is not his life familiar to all readers ?— as the friend and companion
of Sheridan, of Burke, of Goldsmith, of Johnson, of Garrick, of the Kembles,
and of Mrs. Siddons, whom he painted as the Muse of Tragedy. Sir Joshua
Reynolds has been called by his countrymen "die great founder of the British
School of painters," and he was undoubtedly one of the greatest painters that
ever lived. The British Government did itself great credit and did us high
honor in sending the portrait of their first President of the Royal Academy,
painted by his own hand, to grace our Centennial Exhibition. Indeed, we
consider this the most important picture of the foreign exhibits, and "the British
nation," whose property it is, paid us a gracefiil compliment in sending it.
As Reynolds was foremost among portrait-painters in England, Turner in
marines. Constable in landscape, so was George Lance in "still life." Emerging
from the room in which hung the portrait of Reynolds, on the left-hand side
hung the example illustrated on pages 210 and 211, entided, in the English
Catalogue, "The Unwelcome Guest," but the picture is known in England as
"Harold," the name of the pet peacock, we presume.
Lance was born in 1802, and died in 1864. While a youth he was a pupil
of Haydon. His peculiar talent for the representation of objects of "still life"
was first pracdcally noticed by Sir George Beaumont, who purchased his pic-
tures. After this he soon had patrons in plenty. Though the labor bestowed
on these paintings was very great, four hundred of them remain to testify to
his Industry and application. They are found in the best galleries of modern
tieyivood Hardy, Pi
256 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
art, and have a high commercial as well as artistic value. In his peculiar style
Lance rivals the best of the Flemish masters, exhibiting equal brilliancy ot color
and minuteness and delicacy of touch.
It is told of Mr. Lance that he became a fruit-painter by accident. He
was busy with a picture from history, in which it was necessary to introduce
chalices and grapes — the glories of the hot-house and the goldsmith's shop.
Like a sensible artist, he made careful studies of every portion of his intended
picture. His men and women, it is said, promised well, but his metal-work and
fruit more than realized the expectations of his warmest friends. He trans-
ferred Benvenuto Cellini and Covent Garden to canvas in a way that delighted
Jews, antiquaries and fruit-sellers. Critics and connoisseurs foretold in Mr.
Lance an English \'an Hu\sum or \'an Os, and in this instance their prophe-
cies have been fulfilled.
The works in the British section, of whith mention has been made already
several times in the course of this publication — either because of their import-
ance as marking the progress of British art, or as possessing characteristic
merits of their own — form but a small proportion of the entire collection, and
are far from representing all the pictures that are worthy the attention of the
visitor. We must therefore content ourselves with a selection of what we
consider Teprcseiitative examples, one of which, "The Disputed Toll," we illus-
trate on pages 254 and 255. Mr. Hardy has given us here a rich piece of
humor. A wandering showman with a huge elephant are disputed passage at
a turnpike-gate, where the smock-frocked keeper, ready enough to fix the toll
of a wagon of hay, or the squire's gig, is evidently nonplussed as to the
price which so unusual a traveler should pay for his right of way. He has
probably consulted his voluminous tariff which ranges from a herd of bullocks
to a drove of pigs, but from which the gcmis elephant is only conspicuous by
its absence. The worthy keeper then determines to be on the safe side, to do
his duty to his employers, and demands a good round sum. This the showman
does not feel inclined to pay, and a wordy war is going on between the two
disputants, while the elephant is apparently inclined to put an end to the dis-
cussion by lifting the gate off its hinges, and thus setding the question. A
diminutive terrier belonging to the gate-keeper is evidendy doing his best, as
far as barking goes, to aid his master. The sketch, we believe, is taken from
KinMo I'ldutai. ^<'tf-
258 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
an actual incident, the showman in question making it a practice to dispute the
toll demanded, at every turnpike-gate. After some discussion he would walk
on, and the elephant in endeavoring to follow him, would so batter and strain
the gate that the keeper would be ultimately only too glad to let the animal
pass at any price. The situation Mr. Hardy has portrayed in the picture before
us is eminently comical, and the whole subject is humorously and artistically
treated throughout, the elephant especially being an admirable piece of
portraiture.
Italian art is fond of delineating the subject of "Charity;" Del Sarto's
illustration of it, depicting a lovely woman nourishing a group of children, is
admired by every visitor to the Louvre. Signor Trombetta has contrived to
represent the same idea with birds, instead of children, as the subjects of
benevolence. We give an engraving of "The Bird's Nest," by this artist, on
page 199. No reliever of human wants could have a lovelier expression, or
show a mood of heavenlier tenderness, than this maiden who feeds from a quill
a nest of young and helpless fledgelings. When womanhood's wliole soul goes
out, as here, in an effusion of love for objects other than self, the most finished
graces of our imperfect nature are realized, and human beauty takes its fairest
and completest expression. This Italian maid who leans against a pedestal, and
warms the litde flock against her pure breast — gathering in one embrace the
cross that hangs upon her bosom and the downy group of the birds — is actu-
ated by the same feeling, and expresses the same grace, as the benefactress
of starving multitudes. For the purposes of art, the type is identical. The
sculptor therefore has used all his power to give tenderness to the attitude,
and the brooding patience of a nursing mother to this maiden still in the bud.
It IS the nature of woman to nourish and to give life ; and these helpless nest-
lings are unwittingly setting in motion a current of nobler feelings, of more
developed intelligence, than they could ever have aroused in the mere bird
who was their real parent. The beauty of the statue is in its perfect repre-
sentation of the female instinct; whether the objects be winged or wingless it
matters little. The exquisite outgoing of woman's soul in care for another is
all there, and the easy grace of the head, the skillful gathering and fall of the
drapery, and the poise of arrested motion in the hovering hand that confers
the nourishment, are but subordinate attractions. It is a somewhat hackneyed
26o THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
subject treated with an essential truth and understanding that gives it as much
emphasis as originaHty or audacity of treatment would have done.
The gay costume and solid comeliness of the Alsatian peasantry have long
proved an attraction to painters, and the picture whose copy we insert on
pages 222-3 exhibits agreeably the character as well as the effects of color
visible in a group of those half-French, half-German borderers. The types are
well chosen, the composition is admirable, and the coloring is rich and grave,
in M. Pabst's painting entitled "A Bride in Alsace." We see an old-fashioned,
heavily-timbered room, furnished with the painted wardrobe, the ponderous
linen-chest, and the rude bench of a German cottage, all of which have a kind
of sincere and honest beauty beyond the imitative starkness of "Eastlake
furniture." A bride is being ushered in by her mother to her group of bride-
maidens, the oldest of whom is about to fit upon the proper finger the marriage
ring. The intending bride is a simple-looking and comely blonde, who regards
her ring-finger with a calm and dispassionate air, as if the ring and its implied
pledge were the responsibility of some one else. She is gaily and tastefully
dressed ; about her thick waist is tied an embroidered apron ; her frock is
bordered with velvet, and a breast-knot of fresh flowers rises and falls with
the heaving of a bosom that no hysterical emotions excite and no morbid
apprehensions depress. Her little brother comes in at the door with another
nosegay, while a still larger bouquet reposes on the bench at the side .of the
youngest bride-maid. The house, all around this quiet group and peaceful
essay of the ring, is of course in uproar; one fancies the noisy arrival of the
groom and his young men at the portal, the assemblage of the neighbors, the
marshaling in array for the church procession. "Nodding their heads before
them goes the merry minstrelsy." Curious relatives are peeping in at the door
upon the phlegmatic and hesitating bride. And even in the quiet room, the
sacred maiden's chamber which no hint of connubial confusion has heretofore
invaded, we see, beside the bride and her little group, a busy nymph who
rummages in a coffer for the wedding-scarf and a damsel who dispenses cake
and wine. The women all have the peculiar head-dress which is the easy
distinguishing-mark of Alsace, a large bow of black ribbon, like a monstrous
butterfly, perched on the top of the head ; the bride's alone is colored, the rest
sombre as Hamlet's cap. M. Pabst's workmanship is peculiarly firm and broad,
FINE ART. 261
and has a special harmony with tlie buxom, well-nourished and vigorous style
of comeliness he represents.
What is this burst of brilliancy, this seeming flight of all the world along
the Champs Elysees, this explosion of flowers across the pavement, and sudden
spotting over earth and heaven of glistening foliage, pink babies, and Easter
bonnets? It is the "Flower-Market in front of the Madeleine," and the par-
ticular florist who evokes all the bloom is Edmund Morin. The exuberance of
spring and the brilliancy of a volatile population could hardly be more cleverly
hinted. Not a figure is complete, not a single object is in rigidly perfect
drawing; but there is a purpose in every blunder ot the artist's, and his loosest
work is done where just the typical feature ol the object is to be made
emphatic and exaggerated. These extravagant curves are the italic lines with
which the artist gets his energy. Here is indeed the glancing, quick effect of
the market held in front of the steps of the Madeleine Church in Paris. The
liveliest climax of the mart — the moment when the latest housekeeper is going
home with her gilliflowers, and the earliest lorette is galloping out for her white
camellias — the time when the sunshine is intensifying, the flowers are bursting
open, the children are chattering, and the blooded horses are trotting towards
the "Bois," — is recorded' in M. Morin's glittering picture. The original work,
be it understood, is a large oil-painting, that hung in one ol the long corridors
of Memorial Hall ; but it was put on wood for our cut by the painter himself
(see pages 234-5), '^^'''0 is a constant worker for the better class of illustrated
periodicals in Paris. Here is the quick walk of the workman, pipe in mouth
and hotte on back ; here is the exaggerated high-stepping of the boulevard
horse, the high chin of the flunkey, the theatrical and overdone matronliness
of the "bonne femme" who sells the roses, the modish elegance of the French
lady, the hooked moustache of the French beau. How much is expressed by
this touch-and-go hastiness of drawing ! — what wonderful brilliancy the draughts-
man secures by a splash and a dot! When we think of it, a spectator really
could get no better or more distinct view of a changing crowd — a picture
photographically and minutely finished would really be false to the impression
created. "I feel as if it was beautiful fireworks being let off in my head," says
Mrs. Lirriper of Paris in general. Ami M. Morin succeeds in conveying this
peculiar sensation, not the least characteristic of those which Paris creates. The
264 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
style of work is suggestive and very skillful. As the reader observes it, how-
ever, he will be very likely to ask himself if the same art-secret is not embodied
in work he has often seen before. These spots and surprises of printer's ink —
these crisp high lights and deeply underlined shadows — he has watched as long
as he has watched the pages of the London Ilhisti'atcd News, and other publi-
cations embellished by the talent of John Gilbert. The style is a modification
of Gilbert's style, and the secret of M. Morin's peculiar brillianc)' is, that he was
a pupil of Gilbert.
II Cavalier Ugo Zannoni, of Milan, is the author of the group of three
individuals, two animals and one human, engraved by us on page 239 — subject,
"You're Jealous," or "Affection and Envy." It is a pretty little maid, in a laced
nightgown, who seemingly is taking her kitten to bed, while the pet terrier, in
a passion of jealousy, yelps around her bare feet. The child looks down gently
upon the discarded courtier, but like a royal patron, keeps fast hold of the
reigning favorite while smiling tenderly upon the parasite she rejects. Evidendy,
Fido's too sincere tongue is what has got him his dismissal. In nurseries as
in courts, it is the sleek, comfortable toady, that takes all the lavors it can get,
basks in the warmest bosom it can find, and says nothing, that the caresses go
to; burly Fidelity, barking and snapping for pleasure at every salute, is too
noisy for a bedfellow. The cat, in the picture, does not exhibit the least
triumph, or hate of its rejected rival ; and that is another attribute of the
finished courtier; even to remind the Throne of a past satellite is an error.
Anne Boleyn might have lived longer, if she had been just so much more
kittenish than she was as to resolve never to mention Catlierine's name.
We publish on page 237 an engraving of a landscape, "The Lake of
Piedilugo," by Federico Ashton, a Florentine artist. Few scenes convey a sen-
timent of such uninterrupted peace. A broad expanse of water, led off by a
succession of low banks to the horizon, reflects a sky of Italian blue, except
where, pierced by the arrows of sagittate leaves, and overhung by fantastic
trees, it is stirred by momentary ripples and shadowed by darker reflections.
A light scow floats on the lake, wherein a solitary fisherman stands to spread
his net. The mild, basking, grassy shores, the plume of green trees, and the
blue sky crossed by sailing ranks of white cloud, make up the prospect. If
there is any one quality which more than all others contains the inner charm
FINE ART.
265
of Italian landscape, it is its idleness. Labor seems banished from that part
of the world. Those whose lot requires them to work, do so in a leisurely
and matter-of-course routine, like this still fisherman, whose scow brushes the
slender stakes that mark the channel of the great lake, and for whom the
currents and the slow hours will bring- an unforced income. The Italian loves
an avocation whose secret, like the business of the fishery, is merely watching
and waiting- and catching. The condition of an effective net, like that of a
strong but languid soul, is mere receptivity. Let the forces of Nature do half
266 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
the work, and let man stand ready to hold what they will bring liini ! That
appears to be the genius of Italian life, and the type of the net seems the
best mark of character for the populace which to-day covers the western shores
of America with ingenious fishers — a populace which has sometimes risen, as
with Masaniello, to momentary supremacy, but which ordinarily likes to be
strongly governed and regularly fed. Cheery pensioners of ever-bounteous
Nature, the Italian picbs are the product of their mild skies, their fruitful soil,
and their beautiful groves. For the work-day Saxon world, this temperament
seems half guilty, half enviable. We let our invalids and our idlers administer
to themselves a summer in Italy, like a dose of opiate. Our strong and active
producers despise the remedy. Yet let a bustling, busy Anglo-Saxon resolutely
dispose of his carking cares for a single season, and without the fatigue of
incessant sight-seeing drop into some quiet nest on the shores of old Latium,
and the fortitude of another and better and stiller kind of strength will gradu-
ally grow upon him ; the air of a calmer manhood will bathe his being, the
still waters of contentment will well up in his character, the blue peaks of
serener purposes will fortify the whole circle of his horizon, and Italy will be
justified.
By the same artist is the painting of "Woods in Autumn," or ''Bosco di
Faggi in Automno'' of which we present the engraving on page 259. Near
the centre of the scene, beneath a large beech-tree, a couple ol herd-women
are resting, while in the distance, to the right, browse a dozen cows, too far off
to be plainly distinguished, but doubtless of that soft mouse-color which Ruskin
says makes the hides of Italian cattle more beautiful than all the spotted and
painted glories of tropical animals. Over the heads of these peaceful ruminants
rises a range of snow-capped mountains. The greater part of the picture is
occupied by the spreading boughs of this Italian woodland, where in a warm
and spicy air the immemorial trees drop from season to season their brown,
dry plumage,
"Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the glades
Of Vallambrosa."
We have very little idea, though we hear so much about it, of the real character
of Italian foliage. A minute and conscientious study like the present picture is
FINE ART.
267
a valuable contribution to our information. The absence of any true winter in
Italy makes the foliage for the greater part of the year somewhat sere and
268 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
dingy ; the blackish green of the ilex and cypress distinguishes the streets,
gardens and cemeteries ; in summer this already sombre coloring is well pow-
dered with dust; in the spring, the tender and exquisite green of the youno-
leaves is largely mixed with the faded hues of the older leafage, which the
light frosts of winter have not been able to disturb. The green of Italian
scenery is therefore much tempered with faded browns and dusty grays, yet
this very reserve of color makes effects more within the reach of art to portray,
and trains the painter to choose the subder harmonies of his pallette. At
sunrise and sunset there are fine golden effects, powdering with sparkles of
yellow light this austere vegetation ; and no landscape-garden that we know
of can excel in impressiveness the Boboli Park on the Altrarno side of Florence,
when the long ranks of mighty melancholy patriarchs of the woods are washed
with rain and then stricken with the golden rod of some long sunset ray
emerging from the storm. The painter of this autumn woodland has allowed
his memory and fancy to become thoroughly penetrated with the peculiar
character of the leafage of North Italy — the region round about Florence — and
we may refer to his work for a reliable image of the very aspect of nature
that was in Milton's mind when, old and blind in England, he let his thoughts
recur to that youthful visit to Galileo on the height overlooking Florence, and
that immortal comparison of the defeated host to the fallen foliage of Vallam-
brosa woods.
One of Shakespeare's loveliest creations, "Imogen," is perhaps less adapted
for delineation on the stage than by the painter's art. Miss Louisa Starr, a
talented Englishwoman, was represented at the Centennial by a picture with
this subject, the painting having been lent for the purpose by the New York
connoisseur, Mr. H. C. Howells, whose property it was. (See cut on pages
262—3.) The plight of distressed damsels wandering about in boys' clothes was
a favorite one with Shakespeare and the other Elizabethan dramatists; since
female parts were in their time always played by lads, there was something
appropriate and obvious in the situation, and no doubt most original and piquant
effects were sometimes got by young actors of genius, whose fame is now lost
to us, in the equivocal predicament. This desolate lady, who out of the blan-
dishment of courts has wandered to the miserable shelter of a cave and the
feast of bare bread, is represented by Miss Starr with grace and sweetness.
FINE ART. 269
Her form is posed in an artistic attitude, and her drapery falls in a sculptural,
noble manner. By her side, in the rough cave, reposes the sword, tlie guardian
of honor and respect; but Imogen, folding her bare feet together as if each
sought the protection of the other, and broadening out tiiat helpless woman's
lap which is one of the most womanly of the features of femininity, and always
seems adapted for bounty, while the narrow male loins seem intended for agility
in fight, will make but a poor figure in swordswomanship.
No picture in the Centennial Exhibition attracted a greater share of admi-
ration from the art-loving public than the "Pan and Bacchantes" of Eugene
Felix, represented on pages 270-271 of this work. Hung in the centre of
the wall, immediately opposite the great painting of "Catherine Cornaro," and
displaying its nymph-like nudides in the full size of nature, the picture excited
a popular, and somewhat equivocal, enthusiasm. It is certainly an intricate,
painstaking, academic study. The attitude of the standing form reminds one
of an antique statue, and there is ingenuity in the way in which the line of the
lifted arm of the reposing figure carries out the curve commenced by the
trailing thigh and ankle of the other one. The theme is rather trivial for so
large and highly finished a work. A terminal statue of the god of open-air
nature, Pan, is caressed by a -pair of the feminine followers ot Bacchus; the
goat-like profile oi the image, and the open-lipped laughter of its mouth, lend
themselves easily enough to the fancy of the applied cup and offered grape-
branch. One laughing Bacchante reaches up and sets the goblet to the lips
of Pan, steadying herself meanwhile by throwing her arm lightly around his
shoulder. The other, who has sunk upon the ground at the base, lifts up the
grape-branch, while a goat capers over the overturned amphora, and a blos-
soming oleander-tree springs from the urn behind the head of the reclining
nymph. The calculated suavity of the combined forms of this group is offset
by the pointed and bristling shapes of the foliage all around, and the flesh of
the figures relieves itself against darkly-shadowed leafage and the bronze of
the idol. Let us judge such a picture not by any exclusive standard applied
to its subject, but solely on its merits as a decoration. It is simply an academic
copy of the nude, promoted into a picture by the addition of the trees and
other accessories. As such it does not exactly satisfy any standard of criticism.
The forms of the Bacchantes are conventional. They are studies of the living
272 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
female model mended out by reminiscences of Raphael and the antique ; but
they add nothing to the trophies bequeathed to art by the old masters — they
are not only far beneath the style of Raphael and the Venetians, but they are
below the eclectics and the satellites of those old painters, below the Carracchi
and the Albanos of a time of decline. The accumulation of pictures of just
about this degree of merit is a bane of art — they have no reason for exist-
ence. The nature-study is not first-rate nature-study, and the objections of the
rigid and self-denying ascetic cannot be met by the plea of that close and
instructive discernment of the beauties ot nature which in some works of genius
is of the nature of a higher revelation, and carries with it its own morale and
line of duty. We would assign a decidedly secondary place to the "Pan and
Bacchantes." Yet, to reach even that secondary place in the achievements of
art, how much study has had to be undergone! — how much patience exer-
cised ! — how much the hand has had to be limbered and the eye trained ! Art
has had to culminate with the Greeks, rise again with the Italian painters, and
be painfully reconstructed by modern experiment, before the common attain-
ment of the cratt and the every-day trick of trade could give us a conventional
success like this. The most elegant and noble Egyptian sculptor, carving a
goddess for a queen, could not have invented one of these poses ; the cunningest
Phoenician workman of Solomon's, the ablest Etruscan carver, could not have
reached that commonplace grace which stamps these nymphs, and is by this
time the easy attainment of every drawing-school. But there is a responsibility
which goes with an age of intelligence. In painting as in literature, it is not
permissible to trade on the discoveries of our predecessors. It Is not permissible
for a newspaper poet to rise into fame by writing a few songs which have the
smoothness of the smoother songs of Ben Jonson and Beaumont and Fletcher:
that smoothness was with them the result of an immense strain of the ear, a
profound research into the mysteries of a language in a state of formation.
There is no glory in writing smoothly now, when smooth periods are ready-
made to everybody's tongue. In art, there is no glory in making conventional
beauty ; without there is something of real piercing insight in our copies from
nature, they had better not be published. Unless the painter can get at some
seldom-observed and essential characteristic of his model — something that strikes
the trained critic as he is struck by some sudden touch, straight from the heart
THE HAT HUMTERS.
U. S latemational ExluiniorL 187 6
FINE ART.
273
to the heart, in a drama — there is nothing gained; the world does not become
the richer by the contribution. But let him once express, with insight and
Ftlix Ma>-tiH. Sculp.
Louis XI at Peronne.
authority, a subtle natural fact; let him indicate the pearly reflection and blood-
fed quality of human flesh in light or shadow ; let him remind us of the value
274 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
of natural lights and darks in objects seen against the sky ; let him touch us
with the reminiscence of his own personal discoveries in the aspects of nature,
and we recognize him immediately, and forgive a deal of puerility or haste.
It is the academic, official painters who are hard to forgive — those who are to
pictorial what a calculating, uninspired author is to literary art — the Bulwers of
the brush. As for the present painter, he has committed one sin that academic
art loves dearly and repeats forever: his figures are illuminated by studio light,
and not by that of the open air in which they are placed. The gradations on
their limbs and bodies are the gradations observed in a room with a window.
Around these forms, thus shaded, a landscape is coldly and heardessly painted
in. The human beings receive no lights, no reflected colors, from the accesso-
ries ; and the illuminadon upon diem is the tempered illumination of interiors,
not the bold square impinging of external daylight.
There are two painters of the name of Daubigny whose reputations are
well known to American picture-buyers. The father, Charles, who possesses a
truly remarkable talent for represendng the placid river-scenery of France, was
not represented by any contribution at the Centennial festival; the son, who
distinctively signs his name Karl, and who belongs to the class of rising and
ambitious ardsts, contributed, inter alia, the landscape entitled "Shipping Oysters
at Cancale." We are enabled to give, on page 267, a memorandum of this
picture that has a higher interest than would belong to the smoothest engraving
we could furnish: it is a fac-simile of the artist's own pen-and-ink sketch for
the picture; his signature will be observed in the right-hand corner. A weather-
stained old oyster-boat, In i\I. Daublgny's painting, was seen stranded on the
beach at low tide, and a whole population of oyster-gatherers, consisting of
robust girls and women with warm stuff dresses and white caps, were distributed
in every conceivable attitude and order of grouping, engaged in the business
of loading in the shell-fish. Even in the hasty Indlcadon given by our sketch,
the life of the postures, as the hard-working fish-wives carry between them the
heavy baskets, leaning forward as they advance with them from the water's
edg-e, or clineine together, half entano-led with their wet skirts, Is obvious
enough ; but the truth of sky and water, in front of which these clever figures
were set, is left to our reader's imagination — or, if he saw the picture, to his
memory. M. Daubigny Jiis, educated in the soundest tradidons of art, and
FINE ART.
275
Albert Maignan, Pi.
2/6 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
already able to boast of some legitimate successes, has, we feel sure, a bright
future before him. His contributions of a "Landscape" (No. 135 at the Cen-
tennial) and "The Valley of Pourville in Normandy" (No. 175) added to the
favorable impression made by the more important work which we select.
The life-size statue of Berenice, by Renato Peduzzi, of Milan, was one of
the finest examples of imitative technic that the whole Italian exhibit afforded.
We give an illustration on page 257. The spectator in this case is not to look
for a severe ideal, nor for a close historical treatment. Signor Peduzzi concerns
himself but little with the date and place, the probable appearance of this
Macedonian heroine transplanted into Egypt. Like a true decorative artist, he
makes it his unique concern to represent in stone that glitter of sunny hair
which was feigned to have become a constellation. Everything in the compo-
sition is subordinated to this most difficult of textures, and if the hard marble
does not suggest the lightness, the crispness, the fleecy sheen of that divine
chevchur, his work of daring, the challenge of his chisel, has come to naught.
We think the gage has not been thrown in vain. Of all the Italian statues,
which represented by many different devices the gossamer grace and separable
quality of curling hair, his masterpiece is the boldest. Piled in sunlit rings
upon the lightly-poised head, flowing like a rivulet down the back, and lying
in straying heaps upon the uplifted arms, the hair of Berenice, in his statue,
becomes a sort of marble constellation. In flossy lightness, in capricious flow
from the roots to the extremities, in suggestion of golden color, the locks of
this singular statue are a wonder. Never has chisel more haughtily insulted
the marble : under its touches the inert stone loses its weight and massiveness,
and is trained to gambol, to fly, to scatter, and tangle itself like silk. The
ancients never attempted any such painting treatment in marble : preferring to
respect the limitations of the material they worked in ; they were content to
treat the hair of their stone statues in a distantly suggestive manner; when
they wrought in bronze they made a different line of attempts, and freely used
wires or the most vigorous undercutting to imitate the separate strands of the
locks. Signor Peduzzi has not only adapted the painting method to the hair,
but to the drapery ; the finely-striped folds of the latter, its clinging softness,
and the drooping draggle of its fringes, are singular and refined ; delicate as
the painted draperies of Hebert or Cabanel. The subject of this statue was
FINE ART.
277
a real personage, wh© died 221 B. C. She was one of those descendants of
the Macedonian conquerors of Egypt who introduced Greek customs and Greek
civilization into the land of the Pharaohs, and the sculptor represents her in
her grand historic act of piety, worshiping a Greek divinity. In the fane of
Angelo Ramagnoli, Pt
Aphrodite, while Evergetes, at once her brother and her husband, was starting
on a dangerous expedition, she vowed all her hair to the goddess in case he
returned, and emerged shorn from the temple. He came back in due time
victorious, and soon after the queen's hair disappeared from the altar; upon
this the report of a special miracle was raised, and a complaisant priest, one
278 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Conon, was found to declare that the locks had been 'seized by Jupiter and
turned into a constellation. In this form we see even now the begemmed hair
of Berenice, as when the multitudes of Alexandria first worshipped it on the
announcement of the prodigy. Poor Berenice, while the humble crowd were
still paying divine honors to this part of her person, could not save herself
from the horrible pain of a violent death : she was assassinated by her own
son. The statue which represents her in her flush of youth and in her moment
of dedication and ardent piety, was the most important work exhibited by the
sculptor; his other contributions were of ornamental garden-statuary, distinguished
by singular brilliancy and skill in the cutting, but hopelessly baroques.
The statue of Aronte, by Guarnerio, is connected by its subject with that
supposed settlement of Italy by ^neas, which is still a favorite legend with the
modern Italians, as it was with Augustus, for whom \'irgil put the story into
shape. We present a cut of the figure on page 265. Among the opponents
of y^neas on the soil of his adoption were the king of the Rutuli, Turnus, and
Camilla, the beautiful queen of the Volsci. This lovely Amazon, who could run
over the sea without wetting her feet, and "fly o'er th' unbending corn," dis-
tinguished herself in the war of her all)', Turnus, against i^neas, by the numbers
who fell under her hand. Aronte, one of yEneas' soldiers, killed the dangerous
beauty with his arrow, and perhaps decided the triumph of civilization in Italy.
Guarnerio, the most versatile of the Italian artists, has handled this classic theme
like a true disciple of Canova. The statue is in the purest classic taste. We
do not recognize in its treatment the gusty energy of the same artist's
"Washington," nor the epigrammatic relish of his "Forced Prayer." We have
before pointed out this singular versatility of a single chisel, which opens out
strange views of the purpose and end of art. Is the artist to be a being of
some consistency and some convictions, or is he to change his style radically
like an actor, and wear with equal readiness the robe of the buffo or the
tragedian ?
Recurring to the department of English paintings, we illustrate on page
285, the only contribution sent by a rising London artist, Mr. Laslet John Pott.
This painter, who has not yet received Academic honors, seems destined to a
high place in his country's art-roll, from the ability with which he arranges his
groups, the propriety of action and expression in his individual figures, and the
28o THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
care with which he confers the historic imprint of a scene. Mr. Pott's contri-
bution at Philadelphia, represented "Charles I leaving Westminster Hall after
his Trial." There is nothing in English history which lends itself so favorably,
not only to the patriotic choice of the Britons themselves but to the selection
of foreign painters, as the episode of Charles' history ; not only has Vandyke
left us his portraits of matchless and melancholy grace, but Delaroche has
painted "Charles I Insulted in the Guard-Room," and "Cromwell \'ie\ving the
Body of Charles I." The present painting shows Charles marching with resigned
and princely step out of the Hall where his hnal condemnation has been pronounced.
Three times did the self-appointed judges of the Stuart prince require his presence
before them ; and each time the approaches and outward chambers of the Hall
of Parliament were carefully filled with a rabble, admitted for the express purpose
of harassing him. In going through the Hall the soldiers were instigated to cry
out, "Justice and Execution ! ' Every indignity ot tongue and gesture was visited
upon the royal victim, and it is recorded that a wretch having spit in his face,
Charles patiently remarkeci, " Poor souls, they would treat their generals in the
same manner for sixpence." The martyr-king walks, guarded by a few Parlia-
mentary soldiers, who, however, are evidently in sympathy, not with their charge,
but with his accusers and insulters. In the foreground, a lusty smith, with the
pincers still in his blackened hand, has left his work to persecute his monarch
with the coarsest jests of the smithy. The picture tells its story well, and arouses
a lively sympathy for the elegant and patient vicdm. Unfortunately, the reverse
of the medal is less adapted to artistic purposes, and we have few pictures
representing the wrongs and tyrannies that goaded an overwrought people to
revolution. Mr. L. J. Pott, the painter, was born in 1837, ^'^ Newark, a pretty
town of Nottinghamshire. At the age of sixteen, he was articled to a j^rovincial
architect, where he laid the foundation for that excellent arrangement of archi-
tectural backgrounds which now distinguishes many of his compositions. Tiring
of the bonds of apprenticeship, he persuaded his friends to let him study
painting, in London, and presently entered the art-school of Mr. Corey. He
next became a pupil of Mr. Alexander Johnstone. His first Academy picture
was one of "Effie Deans." With many more years of work probably before
him, with good judgment and sound methods, Mr. Pott, doubtless, is destined to
an honorable career in his chosen vocation.
FINE ART.
281
Equally true in historic sentiment, though not otherwise allied to the work
last cited, is the portrait-statue of Louis XI, by Felix Martin, which attracted
considerable attention in the French Department of the Art-Annex. Here is,
The Mother s Treasit
indeed, the deep, subtle, treacherous soul of Louis XI, done into imperishable
bronze — the same monarch, whom we have shown in Comte's picture, amusing
his sickness with dancing pigs. Here is the wily, calculating intriguer, whose
weak credulity worshipped the leaden amulets fastened upon his hat, and whose
282 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
strong- will broke the power of his nobles, sending Charles the Bold to his
bloody grave, at Nanc)', and reserving for France only two recognized powers,
the King and the People. M. Martin has perfectly caught the feeble attitude
of the valetudinarian, the lean legs embracing each other as they cross, the
droop of the figure that hugs itself in its own selfishness. The grand plans
coursing through the sick man's brain — the energy and patriotism that changed
a group of warring provinces into a grand and united France — could hardly
be told in a work of parlor statuary. Louis XI is one of the most strongly-
marked characters in history. He presents just that mi.xture of foible and
strength, of eccentricity and strongly-held purpose, which furnish the light and
shade necessary for an artistic presentment. He has accordingly been the
subject of various works in romance, the drama and the fine arts. M. Martin
represents him gathered up in a huge Gothic chair, his left foot resting on a
cushion, and the other dangling as it is thrown over the opposite knee. His
head is settled deeply into the ermine of his robe, and rests upon his right
hand, the other being stretched quite across to grasp the opposite arm of the
chair; this unconventional posture is full of character and originality. The
conception and finish of this small figure, are alike manly, vigorous and artistic.
We engrave this figure on page 273.
The beautiful girlish head of which we present an engraving on page 277,
was painted by Angelo Romagnoli, a Florentine artist. A dark-eyed maiden is
leaning back in a chair of antique shape, and looking vaguely into space, while
a large rose is held in the hand, as If just plucked and lifted for the purpose
of inhailing its fragrance. This patrician girl might be Juliet, debating- the
import of family names, and deciding that
"that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
The elegant creature represented by Signor Romagnoli, is dressed in silk, with
ruffs of gauze at the -wrist and neck ; the costume is one of those to which it is
hard to assign a date, being a mode of some antiquity or a modern one imitating,
as modern ones so capriciously do, the graces and ornaments of a bygone time.
The marble group called "The Mother's Treasure," by Ambrozio Borghi,
of Milan, was placed in that central axis of the Art-Annex, so crowded with
statues, which immediately caught the visitor's eye from the door of entrance, by
284 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
its long vista of snow-white forms. We give an engraving of Signor Borghi's
composition on page 281. It is a fashionable lady whom the artist represents
as yielding to the universal instinct of maternity. Half-undressed, in peignoir
and pantoiifles, with hair in a mixed state, combined of fashionable scrambling
and midnight "coming down," the young mother poises, light as a bird, on the
cradle's edge, and lifts the litde nude boy-baby for a kiss. The abandon with
which she sits on the rocking crib of her infant, is childlike and pretty ; the
child's pose, straining up for the kiss, has a bold directness. The pair of figures,
too strongly marked with the superficial graces of "boudoir art" to be much
better than the plates in a "Book of Beauty," are redeemed from absolute
commonplace by that sentiment of mother's love, which, common as humanity,
is never vulgar.
Let the reader contrast this with another treatment of the same subject,
by a Belgian artist of a higher distinction than Signor Borghi can lay claim to.
Charles Auguste Fraikin, of Brussels, is a sculptor of settled reputation ; casts
of his beautiful child-subjects have been favorite models for the young artists
of the Pennsylvania Academy for nearly a score of years ; and he sent to the
Centennial Exposition a pair of subjects in marble, one of which we engrave on
page 249. This, like Signor Borghi's group, delineates a young mother looking at
her first-born with the ineffable thrill of perfect love. But it is rustically simple
and chaste in design, whereas the Italian work fritters itself away in a host of
fluttering ornaments, that conflict with the central idea. We do not mean to
maintain for an instant, that rustic mothers love their children better than society
mothers do. Of all the affected nonsense that is talked in this age of many
affectations, the most unloyal and shameful, is perhaps that which perpetually
goes beyond the bounds of our own class, to find a purity of love and height
of feeling which do not exist, it is pretended, within it. The assumption is in
fact a very cheap dramatic trick : the assertor wants to secure the glow of
contrast by representing ideal scenes outside the limits of his own and his hearers'
experience. A little reflection will convince the average reader that city parents —
society parents — constantly make sacrifices, and reveal heroism, in favor of their
children, that to the boorish rustic, governing by repression and exacting hard
duty, is unknown. It is not, then, because a country mother is represented,
that M. Fraikin's group is severe and candid ; but it has an elevated simplicity
FINE ART.
28s
of its own that lifts it quite outside of social spheres and class distribution it
belongs to maternity pure and simple, the maternity that puts forward its claim
to make sacrifices and undergo care alike in the primitive ages of the world
and now. The Belgian artist shows us, in Belgian close coif and coil of blonde
plaits, a smiling peasant-mother regarding her offspring. The child almost nude,
excepting the external cap, which, on the Continent, seems to be the one fixed
286 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
fact of iiifanlinc; existence, and 7ievcr comes off. The mother, too, has been
undressing; certain unsheathings and irregularities of lier costume — irregularities
in an evidently modest woman — have the effect, not of loose suggestiveness, but
of defining, marking, and laying stress on a supposed condition of absolute privacy.
Supported on one bare knee, the youthful mother holds her babe, and gazes
directly inlo its face ; and the litde one, no longer hungry, or sleepy, or tired,
returns the look with that intelligence which mothers always find so extreme and
precocious. That is the whole composition ; but the details and general taste
of the group are of a kind that give it a high rank among works of genre
sculptLlre. The curve of the woman's n(;ck, th(; poise of her head, are perfect
grace; the harmony of the lines into which the limbs are thrown, tending here
and there to a seemly and monumental perpendicular, satisfies and rests the eye.
There is not only the complete absence of meretricious trickery; there is the
presence of beaudcs that charm by their dcdicacy and give lasting satisfaction by
their sterling sweetness. The figure of the mother is pure, large and sculptural,
with something of the free and careless animalism of a primitive nymph. The
babe has somewhat of diat picjuant, whimsical charm which distinguished the
artist's othc:r contribution, the " 1 )roneT5ce."
Peasant life in its comedy-aspect is illustrated by the Dusseldorf painting,
whose copy we give on page 250. "In die Park" is the dde of a picture by
F. Hiddemann, a gentleman of the "Dusseldorf School" and Dusseldorf
nativity. It is a striking picture, and may be called a favorite one ; since the
artist, after the custom of German studios, has executed more than one replica,
and gratified a circle of possessors instead of a single connoisseur. The theme
is an anecdote. A rustic beau and his inamorata out for a holiday, have strayed
inlo the park of a grandee of their locality. Here, enwreathed with blossoming
roses, is a globular mirror, of the kind so often found in European gardens.
These convex looking-glasses distort the faces of beholders in a very ludicrous
manner, and the country gallant is laughing, between the whiffs of his pipe, at the
caricature presented as the reflection of his pretty companion. The gentle girl,
on the contrary, secure in a liberal endowment of village beauty, looks at the
grimacing image with placid calmness, secure in the knowledge that no distortion
can quite rob tlie red from her cheeks and the blue from her eyes.
A Brussels painter, Jean Verhas, contributed the "Sea-shore at Blankenberghe,"
FINE ART.
287
which we illustrate on page 283. Two children, a boy and a girl, watch a third,
a sturdy litde workwoman, at her task of digging a trench in the sand. One
carries a flag, which will be planted on the fort, when completed : one has
introduced a hostile man-of-war, which would occupy a very menacing position
288 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
in front of the stronghold, but that it is laid over on its side, high and dry, in
a total deficiency of water. How many of us are taken by this pretty scene
back at once to childhood and innocence ! How many in days of infancy, have
"Built their castles of dissolving sand
To watch them overflowed, or following up
And chasing the white breakers, daily left
The little footprint daily washed away!"
The style of painting practiced by M. Verhas in this example was very clever :
it was broad in the extreme, with great spaces of sunny light and restricted
shadow. This distribution does not always make a picture luminous; but M.
Verhas gave us a composition that seemed bathed in real sunshine.
"The End of the Game," by J. Beaufain Irving, is a painting that attracted
much notice in the large American room of Memorial Hall. We present an
e.xcellent engraving of this subject. Seldom has pictorial art explained itself more
perspicuously than in this composition, where the eye takes in at a glance the
whole story and the miserable consequences that must follow. The chess-
board is set for a bout; liquors, which heat the blood, are discerned on the
chimney-piece and on the side-table ; it is the epoch of duels, as defined by
the dress characteristic of our grandfathers' day. The younger player has started
up from the game, and has challenged his adversary, on some accusation of
cheating or other ungentlemanly conduct ; his fine silken coat lies on the over-
turned chair, and he fights in his laced shirt-sleeves. This "stripping for action"
has not saved him at the hands of his older and cooler opponent, who has
stabbed him to the heart, upon which his hand is pressed, as if to restrain the
drops of life-blood, that come "like the first of a thunder-shower." He is caught
in the arms of an elderly spectator, possibly his father. At the other side of
the room, the cold and dangerous-looking winner of this ugly game glances
round, the traces of rage just passing from his face in a look of malignity,
tempered with watchful self-control. He lifts the darkened blade of his sword,
which he is just about to return to its scabbard, as his adviser — a cool hand who
thinks of the laws against dueling — points to the door and counsels him to fly the
neighborhood. In another moment, stepping over the rash boy's scabbard which
lies at his feet, he will stride from the room, and proceed to place a safe distance
between himself and the scene of combat. There are a couple of little poems
p
290 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
by Browning, which perfectly convey the heat and the after-chill of a duel ;
that entitled "Before" begins with the line
" Let them fight it out, friend ! Things have gone too far."
The other, penetrated with the sentiment of a terrible and ineffaceable regret,
concludes :
" I would we were boys as of old,
In the field, by the fold —
His outrage — God^s patience — man's scorn
Were so easily borne!"
Mr. Irving, who reads us this impressive lesson on so-called "Chivalry,"
has passed away from among men since the Exhibition, where his work was so
conspicuous. He was a Southerner by birth, but had lived in New York since
the war of the Rebellion. He excelled in a line of highly-finished, brilliantly-
costumed pictures, small in scale and illustrating heroic or chivalric life — coming
nearer in this kind of painting to the style of Meissonier or Zamacois than
any American artist. His works sold very readily, at high prices ; some were
owned by Mr. August Belmont, of New York, who upon his decease organized
an exhibition of his own magnificent gallery for the benefit of the artist's
family. Among the items of this beneficiary display were several of Mr. Irving's
works, including his last, a crowded composition representing the curse-scene
from "Richelieu," the property of ex-governor Stamford of San Francisco.
Mr. Toby Rosenthal, an artist of San Francisco, contributed the painting
of "Elaine," which forms the subject of one of our steel plates. It is a noble
and tragic composition, but so distincdy a representative of the Munich school
of painting that it neither seems like a picture to be rightly called a work of
American art, nor an illustration of the legendary epoch of Great Britain. The
dead girl, with her blonde massiveness, her powerful frame and large jaws,
would do very well for a character from the Nibelungen Lied, but is less suit-
able for an illustration of British loveliness. She is depicted floating down the
river in the barge, rowed by the dumb serving-man, to be brought into the
presence of Sir Lancelot, whom she had loved without return. The legend
relates how, when dying, Elaine prepared her farewell missive to the knight,
while the thought lay all the while in her gentle breast that by means of a
tender stratagem she could deliver him her own love-letter in her own hand,
■;^s^^ss^fe-
FINE ART.
291
even after the breath had left her fair body. This hapless testamentary arrange-
ment is carefully described in the "Morte d'Arthur" of the fifteenth-century
writer, Mallory. He makes the maid say: "And while my body is hot, let this
t. t. Barruts. Sculp.
Spinning-Girl of Mega
letter be put in my right hand, and my hand bound fast with the letter until
that I be cold, and let me be put in a fair bed, with all the richest clothes that
1 have about me, and so let my bed, and all my richest clothes, be laid with
292 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
me in a chariot unto the next place where Thames is, and there let me be put
within a barget, and but one man with me, such as ye trust to steer me
thither, and that my barget be covered with black samite over and over." The
dying wish of the fair maid of Astolat was carried out, and she arrived with
her letter where the king and court and Lancelot were. "And there he saw
the fairest woman lie in a rich bed, covered unto her middle with many rich
clothes, and all was of cloth of gold, and she lay as though she had smiled."
A lovely story, worthy the most inspired effort of the painter. We are aware
of no interpretation of the scene which can compare with Mr. Rosenthal's.
With all its imperfection, as a conception of British legend, it is far superior
to M. Dore's, in his illustration of Tennyson's Idyl on the subject. The general
cast of the subject, the funereal-majesty of the black-draped barge, the solemn
mournfulness of the servitor, compose one ot the lew paintings which com-
pletely fill the conditions of the grand style, without a false note in any part.
The theme of our steel plate entitled "The Bather," after Perrault, is one
that might at first shock that most ticklish of human organs entitled "the cheek
of the young person." It is a tropic maid reclining after her bath in a hammock
that is slung across the stream ; her arms, thrown up over her head, make an
ivory cradle for one of the sweetest faces that ever entered a painter's dreams,
and her foot swings down so as just to graze the warm current. It is, in all
openness, a study of the nude. The subject would exclude M. Perrault's picture
from any English or American Academy-exhibition, but it and its similarly-
sinning rivals — the other "bathers" by Courbet and Gamier, the "Echo" of
Tortez, the "Salammbo" of Cetner, the "Venus" of Faivre-Duffer, the "Angelica"
of Chartrin, and the "Cassandra" we have already illustrated after Camorre —
were not amenable to rejection here since they had passed the criticism of
M. du Sommerard. The motive of young French painters in exhibiting nudities
is quite misunderstood. It is not from an immodest love of carrying out volup-
tuous thoughts that Alphonse and Anatole send their nude subjects to the
expositions; for them,' years of study have made the contemplation of the bare
form as business-like a matter as the physician's anatomy of the muscles. It
is simply because "flesh" is the most difficult thing to paint. A professor
always recommends the pupil in whom he feels a special interest — the pet of
the year — to try himself on a nude academic figure and see if they will admit
FINE A R T.
293
it in the Salon. "Flesh" is the touch-stone of a painter's abihty. A figure
covered with drapery is comparatively easy. "Learn to paint flesh," Bonnat or
Duran or Cabanel or Couture will say to a pupil, "and all the mysteries of art
Enrico Braga, Sctttft.
II Saltambancio,
will be open to you. Paint flesh, with its beating carnation, its rich creamy
furrows and Rembrandt shadows, its gray Veronese high-lights, its unctuous
puffs of Rubens fulness, its chiseled firmness, its variety, sympathy and life.
294 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8y6.
The envelope in which our souls are encased is the masterpiece of the heavenly
sculptor on this earth. It follows and translates every mood of our minds.
When we love it flushes, when we hate it pales, when we prosper it softens,
when we are impoverished it grows dull. It is our index and demonstration.
It stands before our will like the dial before the clock, like the algebraist's
coefficient before his letters. It is the crucial test of the painter, and the
renown of the most famous masters is respectively ranged almost exactly
according as they succeded in representing it completely."
We have thought it right to give a representation of these two fine pieces
of flesh-painting from the Centennial — the "Cassandra" first, and now this figure
of Perrault's. There is no immodesty in the subject, as the painter of "The
Bather" conceives it. The nymph is placed in a hushed privacy, canopied with
leaves and their shadows, so secretly folded to the heart of the sylvan solitude
that no indiscreet sunbeam can steal to pry upon her. There are plenty of
immoral subjects among the works of famous painters, but this is not an
immoral subject, for if a person may not bathe, all alone, in the heats of
summer, then righteousness must consist in dirt. Our task, however, is not so
much to vindicate the morals of the artists we illustrate, as to deal with their
strictly professional qualities. In this respect "The Bather" is certainly a merito-
rious work: of the many reclining figures we remember in art, few have the
restful sentiment of the posture more delicately indicated. The supine languor
of the general frame, as it yields to the concavity and to the swing of the
hammock, except where the protrusion of the dabbling foot pulls half the
yielding form towards a straight line, is imagined with the daintiest truth. This
expressive attitude is set in a dark mystery of leaves and shaded water, like a
cameo in some dark and lustrous enamel. Musidora reclines in a happy day-
dream, as innocent as her eyes, as untroubled as her white brow.
We would not even seem to forget the abundant and striking display made
by our native sculptors ; and accordingly we dip, almost at random, into the
catalogue of American names, sure of alighting upon some work of merit that
has either satisfied the testy critics at home, or has managed to please the
capricious, fastidious tribe of traveled Yankees. We give three statues by
Americans who, living abroad, have won renown here. Mr. T. R. Gould, with
his contributions of "The West Wind," "The Rose," and "The Lily;" Mr. P. F.
Fisherman's Wife of Zuyder Zee.
296 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Connelly, with his "Ophelia," his "Honor arresting the Triumph of Death," and
a large number of other conceptions; Mr. Randolph Rogers, with his "Nydia,"
"Atala," and "Ruth," were friends already introduced to the Centennial visitor;
their productions had achieved success (at least among compatriots) in Europe,
and inspired the trumpets of that inky Fame who blows through the lines of
the newspaper. Strollers through the Exposition lingered over the works to
which names were attached that had long been the burden of the correspond-
ent's budget and the tourist's tale, to see how these samples would bear the
experiment of inspection outside the studio and of comparison with the craft
of Europe. It was a work of verification. Of this widely-vaunted merit our
engravings are the test. On page 127 we spoke of Rogers's figure of "Ruth."
Since we Inserted that attractive and favorite conception, our engravers have
prepared other American compositions, which we will proceed to notice. A
short description will suffice.
Mr. T. R. Gould's "West Wind" was lent to the Exposition by its owner, Mr.
Powers, of Rochester, N. Y. This smiling apparition, advancing over the land with
her soft even step, and the ripple of her flowing skirts, has not the look of a Greek
creation. Instead of the progeny of the antique religions, with their carefully-
assigned postures and their rigidly-dictated attributes, we see an original illus-
tration of one of the powers of nature, made expressive with all the touches
that modern fancy can invent. .Some offspring of the famed marriage of Zephyr
and Flora may have followed a ship of passage, lighdy emigrating on the wings
of the air, and set up in our country a new mythology. The "West Wind" is
represented as a slender nymph, with hair blowing off from the forehead, catching
with one hand her fluttering kirde, and fleeting on tip-toe over the leafy sward
that sleeks its rough herbage at her passing. Careless and American in aspect,
her pulse-beats throbbing through a belt of Western stars, the glad incarnation
seems to have just cooled in the Pacific the light foot she sets on the shore
of an untamed continent. The best quality to be found in Mr. Gould's work
we think to be the apparent lightness and elasticity he has contrived to give
to a block of so many hundred-weight of marble.
Mr. P. F. Connelly sent to Philadelphia a large number of meritorious
works, of which the "Ophelia" occupied the most conspicuous position, being
placed in the principal .American gallery (C), of Memorial Hall, along with his
0' P'M E ILI^i...
, !iiternat;on.d!
. Zacorsky, Pinx.
Old Russian Couple.
298 THE INTERNATIONAL EX II I B ITl N, 1876.
own group of "Honor and Death," and the "First Pose" of Mr. Howard
Roberts. We dedicate a full-page plate to this composition. It is a figure full
of shrinking modesty and grace, clothed in a well-imagined mediaeval costume —
the whole statue elaborate and decorative in its effect, without a trace of mental
disorder. We hear of Hamlets with the part of "Hamlet" left out. Mr. Con-
nelly's Ophelia is an Ophelia with the madness left out. The incident selected
is where the wild maid presents the pansies to her brother. The name of
these flowers being French for "thoughts," and the gift being combined with
rosemary, the symbol of remembrance, he accepts the token as a reminder of
the account due from Hamlet, who has killed the father of this foredoomed
brother and sister. The story will soon terminate in Ophelia's death, as well
as that of the brother, slain in play by Hamlet's hand with a poisoned weapon
provided for his own destruction. The moment when Ophelia distributes her
flowers is one of the most affecting in the tragedy. It is recorded of the great
.Siddons that in the "pray you, love, remember," she gave a curious exhibition
of the sudden lapse into intelligence and shrewdness often seen in mad people;
she looked at Laertes with a penetrating glance that seemed to dispel for a
moment the cloud of her insanity, leaving a very weird and harrowing effect
on the minds of her spectators. The sculptor's conception in this statue is
entirely different. It is the tenderness and hapless lot of the young noble-
woman that he would represent ; he shrouds her all about with sadness and
beauty and the premonition of doom, and prepares us for her imminent fate,
as she will sing and drown among the willows of the brook.
The statue of "Nydia, the Blind Girl of Pompeii," by Randolph Rogers,
was contributed by its present owner, Mr. James Douglas, likewise the pos-
sessor of the before-mentioned figure of "Ruth," by the same artist. Mr. Rogers
is a native of Virginia. Tall, distinguished in appearance, and a delightful
companion, he is one of the indispensable members of the American colony at
Rome. His "Nydia," which has been so great a favorite with his countrymen
that he has had to execute a number of rep/iche, illustrates the heroine of
Bulwer's "Last Days of Pompeii." The preface to that work will explain to
the reader how the novelist conceived the idea of depicting a blind maiden as
a participant in the catastrophe of the Vesuvian city, her habits of activity
under her affliction giving her an advantage in the hour of sudden night.
FINE ART.
299
Around this thought of the superiority of an intelligent blind person in time
Signor Borghi, Sculp.
parable constructive ability made to revolve the whole procession of Pompeiian
discoveries as we see them, as well as the plot of an ingenious love-tale. In
Mr. Rogers' statue we see the sightless slave hurrying through the streets of
300 THE IXTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Pompeii, never heeding the falling- column that the disturbance has hurled at
her very feet, and intently listening for every trace that will guide her to her
Greek lover. The figure perfectly represents the act of walking by the sense
of the ear, not of the sight. Mr. Rogers has been a very successful prac-
titioner in his beautiful art. He is the designer of the bronze doors (cast at
Munich) of the new e.xtension of the capitol, at Washington, representing the
life of Columbus. He was selected to carry out the designs by Crawford of
the Washington Monument at Richmond, Virginia. His "Angel of Resurrec-
tion" decorates the Colt Monument, at Harttorti, Connecticut. He is likewise
the sculptor of the monument to Lincoln in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; the
Michigan Soldiers' Monument, and the .Soldiers' Monument in Providence,
Rhode Island. It may be mentioned as a curious ju.xiaposition, showing how
high an order ot talent can be found stooping to a subordinate position in
impoverished Italy, that Mr. Rogers had with him for a long time, as assistant,
the sculptor of the "Telegram of Love" and "Africaine" (see pages 32 and
40) — Professor Caroni.
Thackeray, in "Tin; Newcomes," praises ".Sir Bulwer Lytton's delightful
story, which has become the history of Pompeii" — thus atoning in his latter
days for the unmerciful ridicule he heaped on "Bulwig" in his youth. But
Thackeray sees a comic side to the tragedy of the town. "What would be a
better figure than Pliin's mother, whom the historian describes as exceedingly
corpulent, and walking away from the catastrophe with slaves holding cushions
behind her, to shield her plump person from the cinders.?" This deriding notice
of the misfortunes of a historical family is merely quoted for the grain of
actuality it contains, in instancing the only available defences which in that day
of peril were found convenient. The bewildered inhabitants of Pompeii, fleeing
from their homes, seized the pillows from the bed-room and the cushions from
the triclinium, as the obvious protection against a shower of cinders. These
homely shields could not well be represented in art, but Guarnerio has suggested
something of the kind, in the figLire of the cowering Pompeiian girl who draws
her tunic over her head, and who may be followed by attendants carrying the
cushions really employed. The statue illustrating "The Last Day of Pompeii"
(page 305) — by Guarnerio, whose contributions we have so liberally and with
so much justice cited — forms a fitting pendant to that of Mr. Rogers, as showing
'^
WEST WIM'.
U. S.Iiitematioiial ExliibitioiLlST 6 .
GEBBIE &aASRlE.
FINE ART.
301
A Feyen-Perrin, Pi.
Fisherman's Wife and Son.
302 THE INTERNATIONAL EX H I B I TI N, i S j6.
another phase of the calamity. While the "Nydia" expresses above all the
darkness and the perplexity in finding one's way throughout a city overwhelmed,
the statue of the Italian sculptor expresses the suffocation and the lethargy.
His figure of the terrified victim is huddled as if in a corner, crouching, hesi-
tating and afraid to move. If she steps, it is with the shifting and doubling
pace of the hunted creature, who feels the toil closing around her.
Dedicated to the illustration of a corresponding epoch, though of widely
different feeling, is "The Amulet Seller," a large and brilliant painting by the
Russian artist, Henry Semiradsky. Our etcher has been uncommonly successful
in the plate. Semiradsky is one of the young painters who have established
themselves in Rome, and support that new, brilliant "Roman School" of painting
which subsists on the traditions and example of Fortuny. "The Amulet Seller"
was the largest and most important work of this dazzling clique contributed to
the Centennial Exposition. Indeed, there has not been seen in America any
other example in life-size of that rich mode of coloring, practised by Fortuny,
and of which the style is continued in the little masterpieces of Alvares, and
Boldini, and Simonetti. Our painter has cemented together, like the bird that
makes its nest out of the gayest materials it can steal, a sort of rich hotch-
potch of every kind of lustrous and shining marble, gorgeous tissue, and
glittering jewel. In front, we see a flashing heap of bijoux — ropes of pearl,
onyx boxes, and enamels set in gold : then, two fair Roman women, in the
rich Eastern tissues introduced by the emperors who succeeded the Ccesars ; in
the hand of one of them is a dark peacock fan ; these figures are relieved
against the polished variegated marbles of a Roman atrium, whose fountain is
decorated by the beautiful group of the Fawn and Infant Bacchus, now at
Naples. In the midst, like a bronze statue, crouches a Nubian peddler, who
has traveled all the way from the Nile to sell these haughty dames the talis-
mans and amulets of the Egyptian mythology. It was under the Flavian
emperors, — parvenus of base extraction, — that the taste for oriental religions
was especially developed in Rome. Under these — under Vespasian, Titus and
Domitian — the Eastern' faiths, including Judaism, struck firm root in the Latin
soil, notwithstanding . the Roman conquests and persecutions in Syria. The
prevalence of our own faith in Europe is directly connected with this Roman
yearning for religious mysteries, more subtle and subjective than the gross
FINE ART.
303
F I f rt, r
304 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8j6.
idol-worship of the heathen priests. The Imperial City, wearied with its excesses,
was turnini^ away from its teachers, and asking for wisdom from the East.
Juvenal had represented the "sly Jewess," pouring the hints of her religion
into the mistress's ear while occupied about the toilet. By the "Jewess,"
Juvenal, to whom such distinctions were unknown, may have meant the Chris-
tian ; and even the dusky African of this picture, intently whispering- some
charm above the gem he is showing to these stately dames, is not a figure to
be wholly despised in the providential succession of historical influences. He
and his like played their part in stirring a current of mysticism and reverie,
deep down under the exterior hardness of the Roman mind, which was ulti-
mately to lead to the worship of the One, — and then to Christianity.
The last school of artists which we would voluntarily seem to neglect
would be the small and select band of contributors from Russia. No other
set of exhibitors conferred on the Art Department a more striking and indi-
vidual set of works. We have described one of these Russian paintings —
Semiradsky's. We now wish to call attention to another work from a subject
of the Czar, the "Old Russian Couple," by Nicolas Zagorsky (page 297). We
are now wafted to the interior of an izba, or Russian peasant's habitation. The
peasant of the country, or moujik, is here seen, not drunk, as in the sculpture
by Godebsky illustrated on page 217, but in his right mind and clothed; his
boots are so huge that he may be said to be interred in them ; and his flowing
shirt-sleeves are of a peculiar cut. He is occupied in breaking loaf-sugar, from
the original mass of it on the floor by his side; for this he uses the pincers,
with prongs terminating in balls, ordinarily employed for the purpose. At his
elbow his good wife sits at the samovar, whence she draws the family tea, not
into cups, but into tumblers. The cat waits expectant, with a vigilance that
would almost seem to be unspoiled by selfish aims, for the tea and sugar will
not do her much good. It is a pretty piece of Darby and Joan life from the
banks of the Neva.
Mr. Nordenberg transports us to .Sweden, with his "Wedding in a Country
Church" (pages 246-7)-. It is a homely, pleasant scene, with the peculiar
innocuousness of the village type plainly stamped on every countenance. In
this rustic temple, — so different from our Fifth Avenue congregations, — all the
congregation know each other, and all will presently adjourn to dance at the
306 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
feast. The kneeling couple receive the benediction oi the clergyman, whose
mind is already running, it may be, on the chosen slice of fat goose that will
presently be his portion at the wedding-table. The hobbledehoy who holds up
the evergreen is already practising the glances of courtship on the innocent
gawk of a school-girl whose large hand is decorated with an unaccustomed
glove and a bouquet. A very charming group, in this region, is the pair of
pleased and sober-sided parents, by no means without a kind of unpretending
dignity, who guard between their knees the little demure maiden who sits on
the kneeling-cushion and attends to her nosegay of sweet country flowers.
Mr. Nordenburg's work, somewhat defective in color, rather gains by our large
and careful engraving.
M. Augusta Bartholdi is a craftsman born to petrify the world of men with
astonishment, and turn them into a world of statues. With true Alsatian energy
(he is a native of Colmar) he flies about the globe in a predestinated way,
dropping colossi from his pockets as he hovers, affixing bas-reliefs to the top
of a church-steeple in Boston, planting a lion as big as a hill on the rock at
Belfort m the Vosges, gratifying New York with a statue of Lafayette, and
offering to Fairmount Park that titanic Hand of Liberty whose tremendous
finger-nails were reflected in the shuddering waters of the Lake. Unable to
do justice to the alarming versatility of this inexhaustible producer, who formed
an Exposition within an Exposition by the variety of his contributions at Phila-
delphia, we content ourselves with representing one of his cjuieter subjects,
more pleasing perhaps because more unpretending. His "Young Vine-Grower,"
a bronze design for a fountain (see engraving on page 243) was exhibited in
the middle of the principal French room in Memorial Hall. It is too simple
to need explanation. The strapping young vintner, fatigued with his work of
treading out the grapes, sits down panting on a stump, his dog beside him,
and drinks from a keg of new wine, which he lifts with a free action in his
hands. In the fountain when complete, a stream would run from the bung-hole
of the keg directly into the open mouth of the figure: this was represented in
the specimen on exhibition by a slender thread of glass. It is a graceful
thought gracefully expressed. This is not the place to speak of M. Bartholdi's
intentions and performances in detail, — of his projected Washington Monument,
of his projected Statue of Liberty, of his public fountains, his oil-paintings, his
The Ornithologist.
3o8 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
plaster-casts. The disconcerting thing about him is that, so prolific, so Protean,
his works are yet full of merit in every instance.
The skill of French painters in delineating the figure is shown even in a
subject so overpoweringly o'ershadowed with landscape as Guillon's Monastery-
Garden, encrraved on page 279. Here, among these colossal, sponge-like trees,
solid with years of tufted growth in the balmy Midi, the interest of the scene
they overshadow is immensely enhanced by the presence, at first hardly dis-
covered, of the stealing figures of the monks. You pick them out by ones
and twos and threes at a time, wherever the sylvan shadow is darkest and
vaguest ; here descending a solitary path, lonely as Dante in the by-ways of
Florence ; here loitering near a bench ; here grouped beside the narrow
monastery-wall, over which they look with irrepressible longing, upon that
world whose fields are whitening to the harvest. The whole sentiment of this
very able picture depends upon the skill which is thrown into the minute
human figures; in part, upon the very minuteness of those figures, for it is
important to the solemnity of the trees that they should look gigantic. These
cherry-stone carvings of statuesque monks an; done with a purpose and with
expression: and no wonder they succeed; for M. Guillon, before making him
self a landscapist, studied human anatomy and figure-painting with all care,
under the great painter of Le Soir, M. Gleyre.
The Eastern group called "The Sentinel," engraved on page 275, is by
Albert Maignan, who sent besides to the Exposition a "Helen at the Fountain,"
and "The God of the Woods." Like Gerome's "Muezzin," this composition
gains in originality by its 'singular outlook from the roof of a building. On
the summit of some fortress, such a stronghold as has been manned and
watched with equal anxiety many a day by the soldiers of the Turk during
the present invasion of the Russians, the Sentinel and a pair of soldiers are
turning their heads towards the bay that washes their citadel. The group,
armed to the teeth, gives the artist a welcome opportunity to expatiate on that
bric-a-brac which painters love — the helmet with its chain-cape, the yataghan,
the inlaid pistols, the shield, the batde-ax. High over the fort rise the horrible
poles, set with strong butchers' hooks, upon which are exposed the heads of
the enemy. One of these is even now festering there, among the wheeling
birds of prey. Amid the lower types and baser natures represented in this
3IO THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
vivid picture, we are interested in the calm scrutiny and thoughtful mien of
the Sentinel. Charged with a higher duty, he outwatches his baser companions.
Perhaps his loftier mind is sent out towards the future and towards the North,
where § mighty and jealous foe is gathering ; and he may calculate the chances
of resistance, and the length of days that may be granted to his nation among
the peoples of the earth.
Of more serious excellence and graver effort is the "Spinning-Girl of Megara"
(see page 291), by Louis Ernest Barrias, of Paris — a figure that was cast in silver-
bronze, and placed in one of the long galleries of the Art-Annex. Placed upon
a beautiful ottoman of silver, which represents oriental inlaid-work, the maiden
sits cross-legged upon her low pedestal, her lap covered with fine and semi-
classical folds of drapery. Her right hand twirls the spindle, her left is lifted
high with the distaff. Something of the old Greek grace and simplicity — the
simplicity of the heroines of Homer — must be yet lingering among the villagers
of this half-way station between Athens and Corinth. Although she wears
Turkish ornaments and sits on a Turkish scat, this damsel addresses herself
to her task with the free-limbed elegance of one of Penelope's handmaidens.
"Carrick Shore," of which we give the engraving on page 287, was one of
those obliging loans with which the Royal Academy illustrated the history and
the evolution, as well as the present development, of British art. The painter
of this scene, like several of those upon the English catalogue, is no longer
among the living. William Daniell died in 1837, at the age of sixty-four years.
For a long time he traveled- in India, with another painter — to wit, his uncle —
engaged in the preparation of a series of Eastern views, of which, however,
our artist executed by far the larger part. The joint work of the nephew and
uncle appeared in 1808, in six volumes, under the title of "Oriental Scenery."
The agreeable reminiscence of the Scotch coast which we publish, with its pic-
turesque castle and far-stretching ocean distance, is one which will be the more
welcome because those who know Daniell at all, know him best as a delineator
of tropical scenes.
Theodore Furmois, a Belgian painter of repute, died at Ixelles in 1871.
We present on page 289 a copy of his excellent picture of "The Mill," or, as
its fuller title has it, "Le Moulin en Campine." It is a peaceful, happy scene —
the ancient mill, patched and mended, but good for service yet, and deriving
FINE ART.
3"
moral support
from the neigh-
boring tuft of
oaks that, hke
itself, were once
better thatched
and showed
fewer bare beams
to the sky. Close
by the wheel sits
a boy, watching
the slow system
of paddles going
round, and won-
dering how so
much work can
be really done
by all that sys-
tematic laziness,
that eternal drag
of unwilling
strength, as ex-
emplified in the
heavy following
of one huge drip-
ping step aftei
the other. Th(
ducks plash ir
the pond, th(
broad fields shine
in the sun, and
Youth sits ling-
ering and look-
ing, unconscious
Pompeii
that the mill-
wheel is a gigan-
tic and inexor-
able clock, slow-
ly turning off his
best and happi-
est hours, to be
succeeded by
hours of toil, and
hardship — and
memory.
I 'ive la Baga-
telle! is a watch-
word that has
rescued many a
victim of indi-
gestion, and we
relieve the press-
ure of our more
tragic illustra-
tions by the copy
of Signor Enrico
Braga's statue of
a "Mountebank"
(page 293). This
figure takes us
into the wild folly
of the Neapoli-
tan throng on
the Marinella. A
lively young fel-
low, in the Italian
street-juggler's
costume, makes
312 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
his trained dog leap over a whip. As die astute creature, with that air of
intense repressed excitement pecuHar to the trained dog in his hour of busi-
ness, goes backward and forward over the obstruction, the trainer also starts
from side to side without moving his feet, throwing his body almost out of
balance, as the clever sculptor has observed and recorded.
A beautiful Holland costume has been studied for us in the picture we
enprave on page 295 — "Fisherman's Wife of the Zuyder Zee." The artist, Felix
Cogen, is a Belgian, born at St. Nicolas, and now residing at Brussels. The
painting we illustrate is devoted to the old quiet subject of suspense — the
patience that can only linger and yearn, while the horizon is clouded, and the
gathering haze prepares a storm that may separate the anxious watcher and
her mate for ever. Many a poor fishwife has thus waited, through the lingering
hours of evening, while "the blinding mist came down and hid the land," for
the glimpse of a sail that has never appeared. Meanwhile the happy sea-birds,
whose mates can freely travel with them, come flying out of the impenetrable
fog, bringing life but no intelligence. The simple peasant looks at the clus-
tering birds, and thinks it hard that they can pass so easily from her husband's
boat, and chirp and chatter, but cannot tell. The women of the coasts of
Brittany have a lugubrious song which they sing to the sea-gulls, the go'dlaiids:
"Oh, goelands, goelands, bring us back our husbands!" It is a curious thing
that, while painters and sculptors are constandy representing the wives and
families of fishermen, so few poets have taken them for a theme. There is no
more poignant situation for the imagination to work upon than that daily sepa-
ration of fond bridegroom and bride when the risk is always death. In other
crafts, when the good woman sends off her husband to his work, with well
packed kit and parting kiss, she can count on a reasonable certainty of meeting
again at eventide. But the fisherman's wife dismisses her husband to the
elements that hate man openly — the storm that is ever trying to wreck him,
and the sea that always wants to drown.
Upon those rocks the waves shall beat
With the same low and murmuring strain,
Across those waves, with glancing feet.
The sunset rays shall seek the main,
But when together shall they meet
Upon that hither shore again?
A softer as-
pect of the same
relation of lov-
ing and waiting
is shown by M.
Feyen-Perrin
(see page 301).
Here we have
two figures —
"The Fisher-
man's Wife and
Child." This
time the sky is
a promise of
long-continuing
calm, and the
sea is glass.
The fishers
young wife sits
on the quay.
In the distance
we see the sar-
dine-boats gaily
standing in to
shore, an argu-
ment that soon
the boat, the
vessel that holds
her heart in it,
shall grate
against the
rough granite
wharf, and tie
to that rusty
iron ring that
Fig. i-— Colossal St,i/uc of Bacchus.
hangs at her
feet. Meantime
the young mo-
ther clasps the
head of her
child to her
bosom, and
looks down
upon her off-
spring as if it
were an omen
of security. Can
the elements be
malignant when
such a fine babe
is waiting to be
dandled by its
father? Moth-
ers have an im-
perious reason-
ing for such
cases of the
heart, and sure-
ly the heavens
will never be so
monstrously il-
logical as to
hinder the com-
pleting of such
a happy group.
The canvas of
M. Feyen-Per-
rin is excel-
lently brushed,
in a somewhat
313
314 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
larger and bolder style than the same artist's picture of "Melancholy" we rep-
resented on page 57.
The statue of Cola di Rienzi, by Ambrogio Borghi, of Milan (page 299),
represents that "last of Romans" while still a boy, "mewing his mighty youth,"
to use the words of Milton, and crouching meditatively in his seat, like an
eagle ready to swoop upon the prey, or a lion about to spring. This piece
of sculpture has a higher purpose and a better style than the one we lately
(page 281) introduced by the same artist, "The Mother's Treasure." Modern
Rome and its environs are full of localities which the cicerone points out as
connected with the great liberator of the fourteenth century. Between the
Ghetto and the Temple of Vesta we see the strange house he lived in, and
which he stuck over with old statues and bric-a-brac, as Scott did Abbotsford —
Rienzi's reminiscences of his studies of antiquities along with Petrarch. In the
Lateran Basilica we are shown the ancient Roman font in which he bathed, the
night before he showed himself to the Romans in the full insignia of knight-
hood, and summoned the Pope and the electors of Germany to appear before
him. By this sacrilege — for the font had been consecrated by the baptism of
Charlemagne — his own soldiers believed that he prepared his downfall. At St.
Angelo in Pescheria, about the same time, he passed a night of vigils, to issue
thence in armor, with the Pope's vicar in his train. To the door of St. Giorgio
in Velabro he nailed the parchment announcing that the Romans were going
to return to their "good estate." Going out of the Lateran after his bath, the
gilded nostrils of the great equestrian statue we still admire on the Capitol
were made to flow with wine and water for the festival of his confirmation as
Tribune. At Tivoli we see the public square of St. Lorenzo, where he harangued
the people, and at Palestrina the stout old fortress he was unable to take, so
ably was it defended by the haughty scion of one of those old Roman patrician
families he chiefly warred against, a Colonna of the period. Twice made
Tribune, he died "like a rat in a hole" (as Bulwer makes him say) in a popular
emeute, in 1354. Visitors to the Centennial noticed an impressive picture of
the death of Rienzi in Mr. Topham's canvas, in the large room of the British
exhibit. Italian sculptors are great revolutionists and liberty-lovers, and the
selection of Rienzi for his subject by Signor Borghi is on a par with the various
topics, all representing the youth or incipiency of rebellion, of which samples
FINE ART.
315
were seen in the Young Franklin, Young Washington, Moses breaking the
Crown of Pharaoh, Young Hannibal, and the maturer portraits of Mazzini and
Garibaldi : every one of them contributions to the eloquence of anti-Roman
independence, and as full of revolutionary meaning as the editorials of any
Communist newspaper. The chisel of Young Italy, until lately one of the last
resources of free expression, reveals strange readings between the lines, and
knows how to direct its strokes in the way of protest. We recur for another
CasteUani Anttqu
Fig^. 14.
>}' Extracting a Thar
glance to Borghi's statue, reminded that it is not only meant as a work of art,
but as a pamphlet : we see that an inscription has been carved upon its base —
at once a cognomen and a tutelary watchword —
" Then turn we to the Kuest Tribune's name,
From Rome's ten thousand Tyrants turn to thee,
Redeemer of dark centuries of shame,
The friend of Petrarch, hope of Italy,
Rienzi, last of Romans and their chief.
Her new-born Num;i thou, with reign, alas! too brief!"
The simple methods of antiquity, stupid and charming as when men of the
Stone Age first struck them out from savagery, still obtain in many parts of
3i6 THE INTERNATIONAL EX HI B I T I O N, 1 8j 6.
Western France. In Brittany to-day, scythes are sharpened by hammering out
the edge upon a httle portable anvil ; and winnowing is done by emptying out '
wheat and chaft on a windy morning, alter the grain has been trodden by the
family cow on a floor of beaten dirt, cemented together by the cow's own
contributions, in a style we cannot more particularly describe. From this dirt
floor comes the inordinate share of grit which distinguishes the wheat of that
part of the country; the miller of Monttermeil, in Lcs Uliscrabics, speaks of
"the gravel which abounds in certain grains, especially in Breton grain." These
primitive ways of working are always the delight of the artist, and Emile
Laporte has made a striking group of his two peasant girls, standing in a
breezy open space by the sea-shore, to shake out the grain from the large
sieves, which falls all around, enveloping the winnower with the drops of a
golden fountain. We present an engraving of this picture on page 303.
M. Laporte, a Paris artist, exhibited also at the Centennial Fair a Grape-
gathering scene, which was hung near the present painting. He is, we believe,
the son of Emile Henri Laporte, painter of a "Faust and Marguerite," who is
mentioned as his sole instructor.
We will now pay our duty to certain British artists, whose works did much
to e.xcite the intert-st and sympathy of a home-bred American crowd. In the
large Gallery D of Memorial Hall, so imposing to the throng from the weight
and mass of its ju.xtaposed chcfs-d'ceuvre, three whimsical subjects were often
dwelt upon with delighted attention by even the careless Gallios of the picture-
visitors.
"Returning the Salute" is by J. E. Hodgson, an Associate of the Royal
Academy, who also contributed "A Needy Knife-Grinder." The picture we
illustrate represents to the life the happy-go-lucky, ramshackle dignities kept
up in the ports of the "Porte." Time was when the Moslem navy, comprised
under the convenient name of "the Algerines," was the terror of European
commerce. The British Female would scarcely trust herself even to make the
necessary voyage to India in search of a husband ; she had only a precarious
choice before her — either to be sunk and drowned with her favorite lap-dog by
"the Algerines," or, scarcely better, to become the bride of a Bey, or a Dey,
or a Sofi, or some equally vague and uncomfortable dignitary. Now the glory
of Islam's navy has departed, and the old war-like port-cities can hardly muster
FINE ART.
317
a sound cannon with which to fire a salute. In Mr. Hodgson's picture a vessel
entering the harbor, and politely saluting from its well-cleaned, varnished and
sharp-bellowing caronades, makes it necessary that the compliment should be
Casietlant Atittqu^
Fig. ro. — Bust of Euripides.
returned. The old crazy cannon is loaded with a heavy charge ; the sons of
Mohammed look on expectant, from a safe distance ;
'Whiskered and brown their cheeks are;
Enormous wide their breeks are ;"
the military commander pronounces the word "Fire!" or whatever, in the lan-
guage of the Faithful, corresponds to that incendiary command. The negro
who bears the linstock advances, multitm rchictans; arriving near the piece of
3i8 THE INTERNATIONAL EX H I B I T 1 N, 1 8 7 6.
ordnance he hesitates, and will go no farther; then the commander pokes him
in the rear with the point of his yataghan ; then the gigantic coward crawls
step by step to the touch-hole, shielding his face with the palm of his hand, as
a cook protects herself from a hot stove. It is a scene of oriental ceremony
which appeals to every one by its side of excessive personal prudence.
Nobody could help laughing at it. In our opinion, however, the negro is quite
right; for the gun will infallibly burst.
Mr. Henry Stacy Marks, another Associate, contributed two pictures of
goodly size and of taking subject. One was called "The Ornithologist," and
represented the man of profound bird-lore — himself a capital piece of charac-
terization — in the seclusion of his house, surrounded by every kind of winged
biped that can be found in the aviaries of the Zoological Garden. The great
variety and abundance of the birds introduced into his picture gave Mr. Marks
a chance to show his own uncommon erudition in this kind of matters; the
ornithologic specimens were carefully discriminated and learnedly drawn.
Amongst them all, elated with the study of his latest favorite, the Ornitholo-
gist resembled Dominie Samson amid the books. The picture, though chalky
and hard, was distinguished by some very skillful designing and fanciful grouping,
while in expression and originality it was most conspicuous. Mr. Marks' other
subject was called "The Three Jolly Post-Boys." They were sitting at an inn-
table, chaffing and being chaffed by the bar-maid. N. P. Willis used to wonder
at the eternal youth of post-boys, but these were elderly though well-preserved
men, hard of feature and shrunken and chapped and baked by eternally riding
in the wind, while some Rabelaisian fund of "smartness" in the soul kept them
forever juvenile and downy. We present an engraving of the first-mentioned
of Mr. Marks' contributions.
From three subjects sent to Philadelphia by J. MacWhirter, of London, we
select that known as "Out in the Cold" because of the appeal it makes — we
dare not say the fellow-feeling it creates — within the heart and consciousness
of every one. We do not pretend to state just why it is, but people will
melt to the pathos of donkey-subjects, in art or literature, sooner than they
will to any other. We know a lady whose husband possesses an excellent
painting of donkeys by Robbe, the Belgian animalist. When the gentleman is
about to go to his business in the morning she kisses him, of course, and then,
FINE ART.
319
without a thought of the paradox, as soon as the parlor is a scene of loneli-
ness she goes and kisses the noses of those donkeys in succession. How
much more is the donkey a sympathetic creature when locked out, on the wrong
side of the stable, alone with the frost, like Lear with the thunder. Lear's
storm, by-the-bye, was a delicious, tepid, enviable sudarium, as proved by the
CasteUani ^tutig.
Fig. Q. — Head of Bacchus, Greek.
allusions to harvest in the play ; it was an august luxury ; a Roman epicure
would have begrudged it him. But the donkey, as dramatized by MacWhirter,
has a much more real grievance than the king of tragedy, for he is out in the
cold with no gloves or boots on. Mr. MacWhirter, then, has well chosen a
theme, if popularity is his aim. We observe, even in literature, that a pathetic
writer who would introduce a masterly episode goes to work and describes a
donkey. Look at Sterne. If Sterne had taken a sheep, or a dog, or a mule,
320 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
nobody would remember the passage. The donkey is appointed by nature and
fate as the model that is to sit to us for our masterpieces. Southey tried to
celebrate a pig, Wordsworth a goldfish, and their efforts are hardly remem-
bered. Ruskin somewliere asks if any Christian can explain the trials of a
cab-horse. If he had said a donkey, he would have achieved his immortality
as a writer — and given us a text for our picture!
The Castellani Antiques. — One of the most fascinating departments of the
Paris World's Fair of 1867 — that entitled the "History of Labor," and exhib-
iting the finer results of human ingenuity from the earliest ages, — was not
systematically imitated in th<- Philadelphia Exposition. Its place was approxi-
mately filled, however, by the collections of a single exhibitor, Signor Alessandro
Castellani, of Rome.
Castellani has long been known as the most artistic of modern jewelers.
He is such a classic in Italy, that travelers of education would as soon miss
one of the fine galleries of paintings as the magnificent display of antique
jewels and their modern imitations spread out in the splendid shop kept by
himself and his brother on the Piazza di Spagna. His name has even been
immortalized in poetry. Mr. Browning's wonderful story ol "The Ring and the
Book" opens with the following lines: —
** Vou see this Ring? 'lis Rome-work, inride to match —
By Castellani's imitative craft —
Etrurian circlets found, some happy morn,
After a dropping April : found alive
Spark-like 'mid unearthed slope-side fig-tree roots
That roof old tombs at Chussi ; soft, you see.
Vet crisp as jewel-cutting."
Castellani is not only a jeweler; the treasures of "old tombs at Chussi"
and other repositories of antique art are interesting to him not alone as models
for his clever workmen, but intrinsically for their antiquarian interest. He is a
collector and an archaeologist as well as a craftsman. In the course of years,
advantage being taken of his position in the midst of the excavations and dis-
coveries of Italian treasure-hunters, he has bought and amassed a wonderful
collection of relics of undoubted antiquity. The whole of his valuable museum
he was generous enough to bring over to America ; and no part of the Expo-
CASTELLANI ANTIQUES.
321
sition attracted such solid crowds of admirers as the Castellani collection in
Memorial Hall. Etruscan gold-work ; Greek and Roman jewelry ; engraved
gems, seals, cameos, intagli ; Byzantine enamels and Papal signets ; old bronzes ;
Greek marble statuary, in a few well-selected specimens ; and a splendid ceramic
collection, made up the wealth of this splendid horde. We present engravings
of several of the specimens, leaving to the recollection of the visitor the vastly
larger number of airios which our space does not permit us to illustrate.
No. I represents a single ear-ring of gold, of which the mate is not in the
collection. It is
in pure Greek
taste, though
found in Italy;
being either an
importation, or
manufactured by
a Greek artist on
Italian soil. The
date assigned to
it is 350 B.C. It
is of enormous
Ciistellani Antiques.
size, being about ,.. ^ , . „ • r- w r- tj ,■ ; . v^
t> I'l^'t. Gold Ear-nng, Greek design. Fig. 3, Helix-shaped Ornament.
four inches in " 2. Dolplnn I'enus Ear-ring. ■• 4. Necklace. B. C.700.
haps was never
worn, bein§- found
as a votive offer-
ing in a Roman
tomb. It consists
of a curved plate
of gold, bearing
several stripes of
minute rosettes
executed in grain-
work soldered on
to the plate ; so
admirable is the
soldering, that
none of these
The pendant is a
length, and per-
minute beads have been loosened by the action of time
beautiful Greek face, showing the symmetry of the best period, from whose
mimic necklace hang the amphorae or wine-jars. Its size, grace and good
preservation make this object exceedingly attractive.
No. 2, of which the original is about two inches long, is one of a pair of
ear-rings in the collection, representing the dolphins which were emblematic of
Venus as a goddess sprung from the sea. The eyes, fins and other details of
the figure are executed in the professional materials of the jeweler's art, instead
of by engraving or moulding ; that is to say, they are sketched upon the
smooth surface by lines of rope-work, applied and soldered on. The minute
gold cords of which this rope-work consists, so delicate yet so even, and so
322
THE INTERNATIONAL EX H I B I TI N, j S 7 6.
firmly soldered as to become quite homogeneous with the body of the object,
constitute the grand technical superiority of antique jewelry, in which no modern
artisan has even made an approximate approach to the ancients until Castel-
lani's time. The date of this object is about the same as that of the above-
mentioned votive ear-ring ; the place of its discovery, Tarentum in Calabria.
No. 3 is one of a pair of objects from Metapontum, whose precise appli-
cation has been a matter of question among the archaeologists. These orna-
ments generally consist of hollow tubes of gold (though specimens of massive
gold have been found), filled in with copper so as to be completely solid, and
variously ornamented, but always bent around so as to form a helix-shaped
tellani Antiquts.
temale heads ; these four
heads seem to wear, them-
selves, similar ornaments ap-
plied as ear-rings. The coils,
however, from their size, could
not be run tJiroiigh the ears;
and it is difficult to imagine
just how they could be at-
coil, like a turn and a half of
the thread of a screw. The
present examples are deco-
rated at the middle of the
bend with pretty floral de-
signs, and each of them is fin- '^""
Fig. 6. — Roman Bondsmaft'i
ished at the two ends with Badge 0/ slavery.
very beautiful and refined
tached. Signor Castellani himself was wont to declare that he had never been
able to solve this difficulty to his satisfaction until he inspected the Phoenician
statuary dug up in the island of Cyprus by the American consul, General"
Cesnola, and by him brought over to this country. Several of these statues
wear ear-rings resembling the helix-shaped ornaments represented in No. 3 ;
and Signor Castellani, after inspecting them, became convinced that the ancients,
taking advantage of the softness of the metal, simply compressed the lobe of
the ear between two turns of the coil, which clung by its own elasticity. Some
of the coins of Sicily, and of that part of Italy settled by the early Greeks and
called Greater Greece, show finely engraved heads wearing on their ears what
appear to be silver pendants. It is not quite certain, however, that this theory
of their application is the right one, or even that they are ear-rings. General
Cesnola, in speaking of the very same statues which formed the evidence of
Signor Castellani .(and whose rude workmanship leaves such small details mainly
conjectural), argues that the ear-rings of double coil there represented are seen
at right-angles to the direction they would assume if applied as his compatriot
CASTELLANI ANTIQUES.
323
supposes. A great number of similar objects were found in Cyprus by our
consul forming part of the "Curium Treasure." These objects, sometimes plain
and sometimes ornamented like our specimen, have attracted the notice of
antiquarians, and, as the simplest subject becomes tantalizing so long as it
cannot be explained, essays have been written to investigate the purpose of the
"heli.x-coils" General Cesnola, in considering the plainer specimens, imagined
that they were "ring-
money," from the fact
of their being found
deposited in large
quantities in a treas-
ure-house where no
coins of any other kind
were found. But this
theory is unsatisfac-
tory to a British anti-
quarian, C. W. King,
M. A., of Trinity Col-
lege, Cambridge, a
specialist in antique
gems. The latter ar-
chseologist reasons
that if the coils were
ring-money they would
be solid, whereas the
Castctlani Anttques.
Fig. 7. — Actor with Comic Mask, in Terra-cotia
majority show the
copper openly appear-
ing at each end, either
from the ornaments
having dropped off, or
from none having ever
existed. "A little light
seems thrown on the
difificulty," says Mr.
King, "by two words
of Homer, who in de-
scribing the brooch
fastening Ulysses'
mantle, says it 'was
made with double
pipes, and in front
there was a figure in
relief.' " He there-
upon concludes that
the Greeks passed the ends of their draperies through these circlets, as modern
gentlemen pass their cravats through a scarf-ring. To our mind, the abundance
of projecting filigree-work about many of the specimens precludes this use of
them, which would quickly bend and break the fragile ornamentation. Perhaps
the best theory is one which Mr. King himself offers as an alternative: tlie
rings may have been used to confine the tresses of hair, which primitive
Athenians of both sexes were in the habit of collecting, and fastening with a
gold grasshopper or other ornament. For this use the decorated rings would
be very serviceable ; and there is no difificulty offered by the fact of their being
324 THE INTERNATIONAL EX H I B I TI N,- 1 8 7 6.
found in pairs, as in the case of the specimen we illustrate, considering- that
the early Greeks wore matched tresses descending from each temple and falling
upon the shoulders.
Fig. 4 is the most ancient object we illustrate. It is a primitive necklace
dating from 700 B.C., and found at Cervetri. It is formed of rods of amber,
as thick as a common lead-pencil, set in gold at the extremities ; the two end-
pieces of the amber are separated by four small bullae or globe-shaped beads.
From the portion in front of the neck hang six ornaments in the shape of the
antique anchor or boat-cramp. This marine decoration may have been made
CasUtlani Antiques.
Fig. 8.— Toilet Articles of a lady of Ancient Rome.
by an Etruscan jeweler in the days before Italy was called Italy, or it may
have been given to a beauty of the peninsula by an enamored ship-captain from
Phoenicia. Such an amber and gold necklace is mentioned in the Odyssey,
where one of the characters tells how the crafty Phoenician seamen captured
him in infancy, and led him into bondage. The child, with his mother and her
maidens, was securely sheltered in the house while a company of these Asiadc
rovers were visiting the place ; the foreign gentry had taken everything on
board thdr ships except the little boy they meant to kidnap. At the last
moment, just as they were preparing to leave, one of the sailors entered the
mansion where the child's mother sat among her maidens, and gave them a
necklace "of amber and gold." While the women-folk were gossiping over the
beauty of the necklace, he signed to the young lad's Phoenician nurse, who was
his confederate ; and the traitress carried him off to the fleet of her country-
men, leaving him among the slave-catchers.
Fig. 5, page 313, is the largest object in the Castellani collection, being a
colossal statue of Bacchus. It was found in the ruins of the villa of Pollio Vedius
CASTELLANI ANTIQUES.
32s
at Posilippo, near Naples — the region where Saint Paul landed on his way to
Rome; "and after one day the south wind blew and we came the next day to
Puteoli." The pleasure-grounds of the old Roman were diligently searched, as well
as the country for a mile around, for the missing arm (originally separate) which
is alone necessary to complete this fine figure — a treasure found but a few
years back. The Papal government, which by law had the first chance, declined
to pay the price demanded by the discoverer, and the prize thereupon fell to
the next bidder, Signor Castellani. No such imposing antique has ever been
Fi^, ti. — Bronze Mirror,
Fit;. 12. — Mirror- Q
brought to America, the headless Ceres on the fagade of the Philadelphia
Academy alone bearing any comparison with it. The subject of the colossus
is that manifestation of Bacchus which the Greeks fabled as connected with his
conquest of India — a bloodless victory, with raving priestesses and mischievous
satyrs for an army, and for trophies the vineyards he planted, the philosophy
of peace and delight he left, and the communion of the grape. This type of
Bacchus is the figure of a philosophy that is truly Indian in its equanimity and
magnanimous repose. The partakers of Nature's festival are happy and at one
with each other. Accordingly the Indian Bacchus is a figure of benevolence
and massive calm ; the distinction of sex is obliterated in this exaltation of the
326 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
idea of universal peace, and he wears female robes and binds his hair in the
female knot, while the long beard which sweeps his breast still gives the hint
of a mighty wisdom and a patriarchal goodness. The ties that result from
feasting, the harmony of the hospitable table, are poetically magnified in the
ideal of Bacchus the Reconciler. Our statue represents a Sage-God — a figure
of sublime beauty, with the "two-story" forehead noticed in the heads of
Olympian Jupiter — the body completely draped like a Ceres, and the hair effemi-
nately bound in a large clump at the back, while it descends from behind the
ears in long ringlets. The marble is Greek, and was therefore an importation
among the ornaments of the Roman's country-seat. The execution is of a high,
though not the very highest, order of merit. The drapery, while it is nobly
cast about the figure, is a little hard about the folds. The face, in unusually
perfect preservation, is of badge of slavery, and appar-
careful and very elevated ^^i\ _<ggfc ently that of a determined
workmanship. ^^^ "^VP? lover of freedom, who had
Castellani Antiques,
Fig. 6 is a great rarity. p^^ rj.-Bronz. ciasp. twice tried to gain his liberty
It is a Roman bondsman's by the activity of his heels.
The original is about twice the diameter of our cut, and as thick as a stout
card. This very rare slave's tablet has been illustrated by Prof. De Rossi, of
Rome. He informs us that before the time of the Christian emperor Constan-
tine, when an escaped slave was returned to his master, he had the right by
law to brand him on his brow with a red-hot stamp, that he might be easily
recognized if he tried to repeat his evasion. Constantine passed a law in which
he said that, "as on the brow of man was the image of God, no man had a
right to touch it; but instead of that, he should rivet a torque around his neck,
with a tablet bearing the master's name and residence." On the face of the
badge shown in the cut, we read the words, apparently inscribed after a first
escape, "Tene me, et revoca me in Foro Martis, ad Ma.ximianum antiquarium."
This inscription is placed between two representations of the ChristJion, or
mark formed of the two first letters of Christ's name, Chi and Rho. On the
reverse we read another inscription, apparently written after he had been sold
by Maximianus, and had attempted to escape from a subsequent owner,
Elpidiius: "Tene me qui afugi, et revoca me in Celimontio, ad domu Elpidiivo
Bonoso." We are reminded of the proceeding of Saint Paul, whose beautiful
CASTELLANI ANTIQUES.
Z27
letter transmitted with the slave Onesimus, — "whom I have sent again," — and
who was perhaps decorated with a similar badge, is a lasting command for
masters to welcome their returning domestics, not as culprits, but as brothers
in Christianity.
Fig. 7 is a small Roman figure in terra-cotta. An actor has put on a
comic mask, at which his little dog barks and leaps upon him. Some Roman
theatre-lover has laughed at this toy, even as the modern frequenter enjoys his
plaster cast of the Shaughraun and dog Tatters.
The group in Fig. 8 is the mundus mulicbris or toilet collection of a lady
of ancient Rome.
The objects are all
of silver, but have
blackened with time,
and Signor Castel-
lani, in the true anti-
quarian's spirit, pre-
fers to keep them
with the evidence of
their antiquity upon
them, rather than
have them polished
into commonplace.
CastcHani Antiqittx.
Bronze Bull found at Chiusi.
The pair of spoon-
like objects in front
are strigils, or
scrapers, with which
the ancients of both
sexes shampooed
the skin in the bath ;
they are both at-
tached, like keys to
a ring, to the circu-
lar spring seen im-
mediately behind
them. Back of the
ring is a globular vase for ointment, also of silver ; and behind this is
a round silver box of four compartments, for cosmetics, with its lid along-
side.
With Fig. 9 we revert to the collection of antique marbles. It is a Greek
head of uncommon beauty, somewhat larger than life, the original scarcely
suffering in effect from the fact that, like the best of ancient statues, it has lost
the tip of the nose. The subject, like Fig. 5, is Bacchus, as proved from the
remains of the ivy-wreath around the hair; yet it is not the Indian, but the
young Bacchus, divested of all the self-contradicting emblems of mysticism, and
represented simply as a lovely youth, at the age when the suavity of the forms
approaches most nearly to a feminine aspect. The eyes are hollowed out, to
receive those gray or azure gems with which the ancients often counterfeited
328 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
the limpidity of the iris, but which, in all such specimens, have fallen out iVom
the disintegrating- influence of time.
Fig. 10 is a marble portrait-bust of the tragedian Euripides, of vigorous
character and in perfect preservation. It is remarkable for a slight depression
at the end of the nose, which does not appear in the portraits engraved by
Visconti. Euripides is known among the Greek play-writers for his selection
of family topics, revealing a modern spirit of tenderness scarcely known to the
other Greek writers whose works have come down to us. His play of Alcestis,
especially, em- gave herself to
bodies an un- ^^- ~^~ death for the
usual picture of ^^t J\ ^^^^^^^^^^^Mf 's,2^^(t of her hus-
wifely affection, ^==^ -. - ^^^^^^PJ^^^fc^ band, but who
in presenting ^ — -^^i^ .'. . 4 ^y^ ^^^— -^— vvas brought
the feelings of ^ ^ back from Ha-
the devoted Bromt Box. Duck-shape. des bv Hcrcules,
spouse who and returned to
the arms of Admetus her lord. Browning has modernized this play of Euripides
in his poem " Balaustion's Adventure." Elizabeth Browning refers to him as
" Euripides the human,
With his droppings of warm tears."
His death was unusually horrible ; having taken refuge from the jealousies of
Athens in the court of Archelaus, he was torn to pieces by the dogs of
the Macedonian monarch, 407 \\. r. It is Plutarch who gives us that exquisite
story of the distant Sicilians, who so loved the muse of Euripides that they
restored to liberty those of their war-captives who could repeat his tragedies
or even passages from them, so that the poet was afterwards waited upon by
bands of enfranchised Greeks who humbly thanked him for their restoration to
life and happiness — an incident showing a higher degree of literary civilization
than is conceivable in our own times.
Fig. II, a bronze mirror; Fig. 12, a mirror-case; and Fig. 13, a bronze clasp,
need little special description. The mirror. Fig. 11, is a type of a class quite
abundant in the Castellani collection, the engraving of bronze with incised lines,
forming pictures, the traces being made distinct by a white cement anciently
CASTELLANI ANTIQUES.
329
filled into them, anei yet remaining; the decoration on this object represents
three young men in Phrygian caps, and a female figure standing in their midst.
The mirror-case or cover. Fig. 12, is, however, not ornamented by incision, but
in bas-relief, and is selected for illustration because unique in this respect ; the
figures upon it, in repousse-work, represent Ganymede carried away by Jupiter
in the form of a large eagle, whose head can be distinctly seen just under the
handle ; his litde brothers are crouching on the ground at his feet, and his
young sister stands beside them. The mirrors, to the number of twenty, and
the cover for one of them, are part of the contents of twelve round bronze
cistae, or chests, resembling
small band-boxes, all found
in tombs of the Etruscan
period at the necropolis of
Palestrina, anciently known
as Praeneste, at a few miles'
distance from Rome. The
boxes, still in the Castel-
lani collection, are a foot
Casteltatti Aiuwi'es.
•^. ly. — Comb, about twenty-one
hundred years old.
or more in dimensions each
way, and are engraved with
the same kind of incised
lines as those seen on the
mirror, outlining the picto-
rial scenes which com-
pletely cover them, and
which bear a general re-
semblance to the designs
found on the vases of the Etruscan tombs. Names in Etruscan letters
are found on the boxes, and the scenes sometimes represent Italian legends
that passed current before the penetration of Greek literature. They
contained the toilet articles of wealthy ladies buried there, such as the mirrors
aforesaid, sponges, a child's shoe, combs, and the discerniadimi, a bodkin some-
times ending in a litde comb, with which the hair was parted. Among the
treasure, small lumps of bronze, rudely cut into segments, defined the age of
the tombs, for they were the acs rude, or rough uncoined bronze, which passed
in Italy about 300 b. c, before the use of stamped dies was known.
Fig. 14 is the most fascinating of the marbles in the cabinet of Signor
Castellani, not even excepting the Indian Bacchus. It is a beautiful and nearly
perfect ancient replica, found at Rome, of the well-known Spinario, or "Boy
Extracting a Thorn." Many of the finer andques were drelessly reduplicated,
in the dme of the original ardsts themselves, the modern sense of the obliga-
tions of copyright having been wanting among those generous inventors. Thus
there are many antique statues almost precisely in the atdtude of the Venus
330 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
de Medici, several like the Venus of Milo, etc. The oldest Spinario is evidently
the bronze of the Capitol at Rome ; the slightly archaic character of the long
combed-out hair, and of the expressionless face, mark the antiquity of that
bronze ; the marble copy in the Louvre, and that in the Villa Borghese, are of
a later period, while this of Signor Castellani's is just sufficiently removed from
the earliest style to acquire the most achieved graphic force, without a hint of
the decline of art. The face has a winning expression of boyish trouble and
intentness ; the hair is in short, curled locks ; both expression and hair quite
different from the earlier bronze ; the flesh parts breathe with life throughout.
These characteristics are those of the realistic school of Pergamos, an oriental
town w^here art flourished, for the three first centuries of our era, in a purely
picturesque development scarcely trammeled by hieratic traditions. Signor Cas-
tellani, who would fain attach everything to his beloved Rome by some lien of
association, is fond of relating, apropos of the Spinario, a pretty story of
Mortius, the little shepherd, who ran to the Roman Senate by night to give
them news of an incursion of the Latins, never stopping in his course although
a great thorn had entered his foot. But the subject of the "boy and thorn,"
or young Olympian foot-racer impeded by a wounded heel, doubtless took shape
in Greek sculpture before the Roman Senate existed.
Fig. 15 is a bronze bull, found at Chiusi in Italy. It is about a foot in
length, and entirely admirable. The finish of the head, with its fine curled
forehead-locks, is especially in the best style of the Greek workman. It
resembles the finely designed bulls seen on the old coins of Thurium. The
stiff-looking support and stand are a modern structure of wood.
Figs. 16 and 17 are toilet objects found, like the mirrors, in the toilet-
cases of Preneste, and like them, about twenty-one hundred years old. The
first is a rouge-box in the form of a duck, carved in cedar, and six inches in
length. It still contains the old rouge-pellets, which have not forgotten to blush.
The comb, also of cedar, is about four inches across, and the decorated rib in
the centre is gilt.
Forty-five different objects of interest are preserved from the dozen
dressing-boxes obtained in the tombs of Preneste.
Twenty-one trays are filled with ancient jewelry, of which the ear-rings and
necklace of our first engravings are specimens. There are about three hundred
MasUrpitces o/ Flu^to^rafhy.
H. Ma^art, PiHx,
Romeo and jfuliet.
332 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
engraved gems, and about three hundred and fifty finger-rings, all antique, in
the Castellani cabinets.
In addition to these objects in metal or stone, the plastic triumphs of the
ceramic art occupy by themselves a whole division of Signor Castellani's mag-
nificent treasure ; three hundred and twenty-one specimens, mosdy very rare,
of majolica and porcelain are included in it. Besides examples of Hispano and
Siculo-Moresque ware, showing the fine "iridescence" which the modern potter
tries in vain to imitate, the Castellani collection contains specimens of the tin-
glazed ceramic statuary made by Luca Delia Robbia, Majolicas from Caffag-
o-iuolo, Siena, Gubbio, Faenza, Pesaro, Urbino, Rome, and Castelli, and rare
antique porcelains of European fabriques.
Masterpieces of Photography in the Centennial Exposition. — When
Daguerre, about the year 1835, made public his first experiments in the art of
picture-making through the agency of the sun, his experiments were directed
towards landscape and architectural subjects. The slowness of the process, as
he understood it, made it unsuitable for portraiture. He was immediately
assailed, however, by hosts of correspondents, demanding of him that his method
should be extended to the representation of human beings. "Can you not
realize for us," asked one of the letters he received, "that fantastic idea of the
German romancer Hoffmann, that a lover should be able to present to his
mistress a magic mirror, in which she would see, whenever she looked, the
features of her beloved ?" This is the most accurate description possible of the
early daguerreotype. But the first experiments were painful to look upon. The
time then demanded for a sitting was about four or five minutes. The wretched
victim, after taking at first "a graceful position" perforce, found himself fixed
as in a vise, without the possibility of budging; the slow minutes, which seemed
like years, wore on ; shooting pains and cramps began to invade every part of
his body ; his face soon betrayed the agony of his frame ; it contracted and
withered with agony ; a grin of despair gradually took the place of the good-
natured smile he had at first fixed upon his countenance, the perspiration
started from the pores of his forehead and streamed down his features, and by
insensible changes a hard fixed look of misery began to pierce through the
expression he had assumed at the outset, and remained as the distinguishing
'''■I I".') ',','',
334 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
trait of the likeness. Daguerre and his nephew were soon enabled to exhibit
a row of portraits achieved by the new method, but these only frightened the
originals and their friends. A series of abject individuals, each wearing the
expression of Belisarius demanding alms, were offered as the types of those
light-hearted Parisians, so gay, well-mannered and agreeable.
The immense development that has taken place in the sun -graphic or
photographic art was well indicated in the large building set up to the east-
ward of Memorial Hall, with its ample walls and partitions completely papered
with innumerable works of art, all executed by the pencil of the sun. Here
were pictures from Japan, from Africa, from Russia, from Germany, Italy and
France, from .Spain and her distant d<:pendcncies, from South America, from
Great Britain ; and here the artists of the United States found themselves more
completely on a l<;vcl with their compeers of the Old World than in the kindred
departments of painting and sculpture.
In this place our design is to treat photograjjhy not in its scientific so much
as in its artistic aspect. It forms a division of our review of the Fine Arts of
the Fair, and in the gossip we shall proceed to communicate on the Photog-
raphy of the Ccmtennial Exposition, we shall toucli at will upon those of its
masterpieces which have most interested us by their beauty and strangeness,
rather than upon those wliich interest the operator by the difficulties overcome.
As these pages are to form an Illustrated Catalogue of Masterpieces, it
would have been an anomaly to let the present portion of our criticisms go to
the public without illustrations ; but the manner of embellishment presented a
difficulty; we were unwilling to deface our work widi photograph-mounts; and
we hope our readers will acknowledge that the best style we could adopt was
to present illustrations of some of the most notable and extensive of the art-
photographs included in the Exposition, executed in the usual methods selected
for the embellishment of other portions of our work. They will understand,
then, that the engravings we present in this portion are simply given as like-
nesses of some of the largest and most artistic photographs displayed.
In this aspect, indeed, one of our earliest engravings may serve a double
purpose, and be referred to as illustrating the present pordon of our review;
the cut of "Catherine Cornaro," on page 4, forms a satisfactory representation
of the grand photograph of the painting from a Viennese firm of heliotypic
336 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
artists which was hung in Gallery Z of the Art Building, and was so surprising
for its sharpness even at the edges, although taken from such a gigantic original.
Our picture is a little lighter in tone than the Austrian photograph, that is all.
To gain an idea of the care and tact with which French experts now
conduct the business of copying paintings by photography, one should enter
the establishment of Bingham, of Paris, who makes a specialty of this process.
It is true that American painters often get their pictures photographed by the
nearest camera to be had, as a memorandum or souvenir of their work ; and
it is equally common to see in the shops photographs of the paintings of old
masters, whether from Venice, or Munich, or London ; but these are generally
false and unequal in tone, with a despairing blackness setding down gradually
upon them towards the corners — hopeless mis-statements, vulgar things, country
copyists, bungling counterfeiters, and not fit to come within a mile of the aris-
tocradc society of the metropolitan photograph-forgery. The latter gives the
threads of the canvas, the relief of the impasto, the counterfeit of the general
tone, and you have, in all but the color, the precise aspect of the paints laid
on by the original artist. In the ateliers of Bingham, there are a multitude of
screens, some semi-transparent, some opaque ; these can be set so as to temper
the light that falls upon the painting, and make it perfecdy even over every
part. There are quantities of reflectors, which direct a ray of supernumerary
light upon those hues in the painting which wouUl "take too black" in the pho-
tograph. As to the blues in the picture, which would take white, they may be
rubbed over with a temporary coat of gray transparent water-color. A great
rriany experiments are made, for the perfect negative is often stubborn, and
will not come until a long succession of its predecessors have been tested and
rejected. Finally, the good negative is not the result of a few seconds' expo-
sure of a highly sensidve surface, as is the case in portrait-work ; it is the
slower but surer impression made on a slightly sensitive surface, taking hours
to develop. During a great part of a day the picture, like an invalid in his
bandages, remains in its elaborate apparatus of screens and reflectors, most
artfully applied to produce an exacdy equal illumination of all its parts before
the lens. After so much padence and good nursing, it is no wonder that the
result is such categorical perfection, and that we receive from Paris the exact
fac-simile, though in monochrome, of the skillful touches of Meissonier and
p
;?,'^'u;i:
' ' ■ I ' \ ' ' ( I ' ''hi
i':)i^;;f''';''i';\:;"''i
PHOTOGRAPHS OF FINE ART. 337
Gerome. Nay, the business formerly committed to the engravers is carried
into their own territory, and the copying of scarce old prints photographically
is so well executed by Amand-Durand in Paris, that we are furnished with
counterfeits, only to be detected by an expert, of the rarest originals by Diirer
and Mark Antonio.
Our illustration on page 335 will give an idea of the great painting of the
"Market at Cracow," painted in that city by Hippolyte Lipinski, in 1875. We
see at the right a flock of geese for sale, then seriatim all the humors and
activities of a crowded market. Long-bearded Jews make change and chaffer ;
ragged boys play with the stupid pigeons ; countrymen cry their produce, at
the top of their voices, from the elevation of their wagons ; the miller super-
intends the weighing of his sacks of grain ; the newly-married countryman
buys a cradle and marches off with it triumphantly at the side of his barefoot
bride ; the cooper and wood-carver commends his toy horse and cart to the
litde girl, and his tubs to her mother. Of all this amusing tumult in M.
Lipinski's painting, not a particle of the spirit was lost by the mammotli pho-
tograph of which our cut may remind the reader.
Tlie representation of figures on page 331 will serve to recall a couple of
photographs very ably taken from paintings of Makart, the same artist to
whose "Catherine Cornaro" we have just alluded. One has for subject the
farewell of Romeo and Juliet, after the former's banishment to Mantua. The
other (not illustrated) shows Faust and Marguerite — the latter insane and in
prison by his fault. These copies are interesting as betraying an effort on the
part of the painter to express more character and individuality in his figures
than usual. Juliet is a real Italian, with an intense Lombard physiognomy;
Marguerite is a German, with a powerful Teutonic cheek-bone over which the
shrunken skin is tensely drawn by misery; in both pictures, however, the breadth
of treatment, the able contrasts of light and shade, the costume enriched with
some excess, show the decorative painter campaigning in the fields of expression
without leaving his baggage of luxury and sumptuousness behind him.
Finally, our snow-scene, page 333, will recall the photograph representing
Kaemmerer's painting of "Winter in Holland." M. Kaemmerer is a Hollander,
long resident in Paris, — or "long" considering his still youthful time of life.
An eleve of the studio of Gerome, he paints with the minute finish of that
From "Le Tour du Mo\
Mirror Lake, Yo Semite Valley,
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiliiiiiiiijiiiiii^
Tlie Tend Cascade.
340 THE INTERNATIONAL EX H I B I TI N, 1 8 7 6.
master scenes borrowed from the life of his native country. We see some
peaceful stretch of the River Scheldt, converted into a polished floor by the
frost, and etched all over with the marks of sleighs and skates. Two plainly-
noted divisions of society may be discriminated. The ladies to the left are of
the fashionable world, who get their dresses and their ideas from Paris, and
timidly put on their skates because it is the mode of the day ; they make the
most of their awkwardness, as is to be seen from their atdtudes ; they would
not be taken for those market-wives who skate under loads of provisions with
all the ease of old habit. The pretty girls to the right, who have levied on
the supply of quaint old sleighs in the ancestral carriage-house, are of the rich
burghers who assume no airs of fashion : they still wear the pretty Dutch cap
of lace, under which gleams the lustre of gold ; and, provided with lusty
admirers to whom skating is second nature, and who are pushing their sleighs
over the ice, they are anticipating the joys of a spirited and well- contested
race. The prevalence of gray wintry tones in M. Kaemmerer's picture, and a
certain glossy coldness whiclr glazes it all over with an appropriate vitreous
aspect, have made it an easy prey for the photographer, who has perfectly
succeeded in translating its peculiar quality.
Photography, in the matter of the representation of paintings, does not
always act as the rival of engraving ; it sometimes appears as its ally. In the
exhibition of art-publications by the famous house of Goupil, in the Main
Building, could be seen a large representation of Fortuny's picture, "The Mar-
riage in the Vicaria." This had the appearance of a steel engraving. It is
really a photo-gravure — or print from a plate whereon the design has a photo-
graphic basis — heightened to a certain extent by the labor of the burin. The
forms and tints are blocked out by the photo-gravure, while the engraver's
tool has been used throughout to deepen the effect and cover the plate with a
crisp texture; about half the engraver's usual labor is saved by this mixed
method ; and the publishers are able to supply the print at a much cheaper
rate than would be charged for an ordinary engraving of the size. Several
similar prints have been issued by the Messrs. Goupil. In the Photographic
Hall, also, the Goupils made an exhibit of their admirable reproductions, which
were arranged in alcove No. 25.
This Hall, of which the architect was Mr. H. J. Schwarzmann (the same
342 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 2876.
who designed Memorial Hall), was a simple one-story building, two hundred
and forty-two by seventy-seven feet in size, situated to the east of Memorial
Hall aforesaid, and north of the Main Building. It consisted of a single room,
whose wall-space was indefinitely increased by screens projecting from die sides
and forming alcoves for exhibition purposes. In these spacious galleries hung
the photographic achievements of all the world.
As most of the exhibitors whose works we shall mention received the
award of merit, it is hardly necessary to state that fact in the cursory remarks
we shall make. That the medals were distributed without favoritism, there is a
pleasing indication : the American exhibitors were rewarded in smaller propor-
tion than thase of any of the great nationalities. Thus —
The United States, with 135 exhibitors, got 27 awards;
Great Britain, " 26 " "11
Germany, " 24 " " 7 "
France, "10 " "6 "
Fine Art Literature of the Exposition. — The illustrated serials, the
art-editions of classical authors, the sumptuous works in which the purpose of
the description was developed by means of magnificent plates, the travels
recorded with pencil as well as widi pen, formed altogether the Fine Art
Literature of the Centennial Exposition. The surprising wealth of this portion
of the display was a full reward for those who underwent the toil necessary to
seek it out, distributed as it was through the nooks and corners of the Main
Building, the pavilions set up by special publishers, the buildings erected in the
Park by different nationalides. A review of this diversified literature would
well be worth the space of a separate volume. Constrained as we are to treat
it as a mere appendix to our general study of the Fine Arts (with which topic,
however, it is so closely and appropriately allied), we must portray it simply in
outline ; happy indeed if so cursory a treatment shall recall to the reader some
fine work which only slightly imprinted itself on the memory in hurrying by,
or bring to notice an unknown typographical masterpiece.
Shakspeare, as the greatest genius arisen since the discovery of printing,
first claims our attention. Innumerable are the illustrated Shakspeares. Each
of the civilized nations has found him the inspiration of its art. Of the various
344 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
countries that have distinguished themselves by fine pictorial editions of his
dramas, England, as is meet, bears the palm with the superb Boydell Shaks-
peare, embellished by the labors of the best painters and engravers, and, all
things considered, the finest expression in this line of works produced by the
epoch that gave birth to West, Fuseli and Reynolds. France, it is well known,
is preparing a very elaborate pictorial Shakspeare, at the hands of the mar-
velously-endowed Gustave Dore ; but Germany, as the country which, after his
native land, most adequately appreciates the Stratford magician, is to be looked
to among his most prompt and attentive interpreters in this sort of publication.
The favorite outline illustrations of Moritz Retzsch, of Dresden, mannered and
inadequate as they are, have introduced into even English and American homes,
by the striking and theatral expressiveness of their drama, an interest in
Shakspeare often unknown before their acquaintance was made. We select a
specimen of a more elaborate series of illustrations.
This series is that which embellishes the fine translation of Shakspeare's
works published by Brockhaus, of Leipsic. The translators are the most
learned and skillful in Germany, such as Schlegel, Bodenstedt, and Delius.
More than one edition is published by the house, whether unembellished, or
made attractive with wood-cuts or steel-plates, according to the purse of the
purchaser to be tempted. From the richest form in which Brockhaus issues his
standard version of Shakspeare, we select an illustration, on steel by W. Schmidt,
after the picture of A. Spiers. It represents the scene between Angelo and
Isabella, Measure for Measure, Act II, Scene 4: —
Aitj^eh. Plainly conceive, I love you.
Isabella. My brother Hid love Juliet; and you tell me
That he shall die for it.
An::;elo. He shall not, Isabel, if you j;ive me love.
The gende "votarist of St. Clare," shocked at die turn the argument is
taking as she pleads with the Lord Deputy to have her brother taken out of
prison, is repelling his offer with a decided gesture of her white hand. The
engraving is finely wrought and well conceived (notwithstanding the ill-advised
resemblance between the faces of Isabella and the ruler of Vienna), and the
whole edition a credit to Germany's representation at Philadelphia.
From illustrated poetry we turn to illustrated traveling. American readers
THE FINE ART LITERATURE.
345
have often had occasion to be gratified with the fine sketches of their own
native scenery given in the " Tour du Monder an important serial pubhcation
346 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
of the Paris house of Hachette & Co. This work, which has been appearing
for years, as a sort 'of pictorial magazine of travel, has been the matrix from
which have sprung various notable holiday-books, such as Marcoy's South
American rambles, Wey's "Rome," etc.; the Christmas-keepsake is simply a
selection from the chapters of the Tour, bound together. The most adventu-
rous modern travelers and most vivacious writers, whether French or foreign,
have contributed to the series, — now Hepworth Dixon, with his impressions on
Russia, now I. 1. Hayes, with his notes of polar voyages. The illustrations have
levied upon the very best artistic talent of the day ; now it is Gustave Dore
sketching in Spain, now Valerio with his portfolios filled in the Gipsy camps
of Wallachia, now Henri Regnault penciling his way through the streets and
lanes of Rome. Very beautiful studies of travel in the United States have
from time to time been prepared, such as the embellishments to a paper on
the relics of Spanish settlements in Florida, and the picture of "Mirror Lake,
Yo Semite Valley," engraved from a photograph to illustrate some passages of
California travel.
We extract the "Mirror Lake," and grace with it our 338th page.
The French, however, have latterly been hard pressed by the rivalry of
the Germans in the preparation of sumptuous books of travel. Among the
splendidly-pictured works of this sort exhibited in the German section, we can
hardly pass so noble a volume as the "Italy" exhibited by J. Englehorn, of
Stuttgart. This fine repertory of artistic views yields us three pictures with
which to adorn our publication. We first extract (page 339) the "Cascade of
Terni." Two affluents of the Tiber meet to form the volume of water which
here pours down the flanks of the Abruzzi. The traveler takes Terni on his
way from Florence to Rome ; after reaching Papigno, the road immediately
ascends the steep hill above the Falls, so that tourists who wish to visit them
en route quit the carriage at Papigno, and rejoin it again at the summit. It is
glorious to see, in a country whose civilization is so old as Italy's, a piece ot
uncontaminated nature like Terni, rugged as in the days before the race of
Romulus passed into Etruria. Our next selection shows "The Campo Santo
at Pisa" (page 341). Every reader knows the vast importance of the relics of
Pisa to art. The architecture, of the neighboring Carrara marble, is bright and
elegant compared with that of Pisa's old rival, Florence. The cemetery, which
Bonnat.p
iL>.Jtbl\)lUDlLia7b.
"irailE ffKRST STEPc
OEbBlE & BAEOUX .
THE FINE ART LITERATURE.
M7
is here exhibited, is surrounded by dehcate arcades whose twisted cohimiis are
slender hke ropes of silver; the earth, brought from Holy Land, is a sheet of
lovely turf, studded with massive cypresses; and the gallery surrounding the
old graves is a repository of some ot the most interesting works of art in
From " Les Prome}tades de F<i
Riviere de C/iarento.
Italy. Funereal monuments, like those depicted in the cut, completely surround
it. Some are of showy Italian work ; some are rare mediaeval relics ; and now
and then an old Roman sarcophagus or capital — kept there because a beauty-
loving race has chosen to exhibit its pretty findings in the most public place.
348 THE INTERNATIONAL EX H I B I Tl N, 187 6.
intrudes among the Christian dead. One such rehc is the sarcophagus brought
from Greece in the eleventh century; it is carved with fine bas-reliels of Hip-
polytus, going to the chase, and rejecting Phaedra ; this Grecian coffin, utiHzed
as the tomb of Matilda of Tuscany, taught Nicolo Pisano the secret of art in
1260, and created the Renaissance. On the walls of the same Campo Santo
are preserved the famous frescoes, culminating in the sublime "Triumph of
Death" of Orcagna ; works noble in purpose, though fettered in expression,
for painting was not so quick to find out the Greek carvings as sculpture was,
and Orcagna, working in the century after Nicolo, is still rigid and mediaeval
when the sculptor is quite Hellenized and emancipated. Finally, we show
(page 343), as our last extract from Englehorn's "Italy," a view collaterally
belonging to the route of the Italian voyager, a panorama of Trieste. Trieste,'
the great port of Austria, is but seventy miles from Venice, and is Italian in
appearance. All the engravings in this work are literal and trustworthy, while
they almost entirely avoid hardness, that besetting vice of German wood-cuts.
The above is a fair example of a work for the edification of tourists in a
foreign land. To show, however, the pleasures and surprises that may be yielded
to the explorer of a single city and its environs, we select the "Promenades
de Paris," exhibited at Philadelphia by its publisher, J. Rothschild, of Paris. It
is in two fine folio volumes ; the first, of nearly four hundred pages, contains
the text and wood-cuts ; the second, a beautiful album, encloses the steel
engravings and chromo-lithographs. Here are pictures of the twenty small
Squares of Paris, such as the Chatelet, the Tour St. Jaques, and the Place
Royale ; and the Woods and Parks, such as the Bois de Boulogne, the Bois
de Vincennes, the Garden of the Luxembourg, Champs-Elysees, and Trocadero.
We select from among the wood-cuts two views, illustrating that improvement
of Paris under Prefect Haussmann which was one of the pacific glories — there
were few belligerent ones — of the Second Empire. On page 345 we present a
cut from the Promenades, exhibiting the new fountain on the Avenue de I'Ob-
servatoire, only completed towards the close of Louis Napoleon's reign. The
group of sculpture, by the late brilliant artist Carpeaux, represents Europe,
Asia, Africa and America sustaining the sphere ; each geographical division
presented in a figure of great energy. Above their heads is seen the dome
of the Observatory, so renownedly connected with the labors of the closing
THE FINE ART LITERATURE.
349
years of Leverrier. This elaborate fountain now makes the southern part of
Paris vie with the more early favored portions in elegance and attractiveness.
A smaller cut Irom the same work, which we show on page 347, of the Riviere
or rivulet of Charenton, gives to the tired eyes of dusty citizens a refreshing
piece of country wildness. The work published by M. Rothschild illustrates the
enormous effect which a few years of intelligent city administration can do in
opening the lungs of a great metropolis. The determination to ventilate Paris
led to a mighty expense of power and money, and was a new idea within the
From " l'hot~waldst*t. sn t'ir et son (Eitvre."
I'enns and Mercur
present half-century. Towards the close of Louis XVIII's reign, the crowding
of the capital began to show itself in a manner hurtful to comfort and health.
The Champs-Elysees had been invaded with buildings ; and favorite gardens,
such as those of Tivoli, Beaujon and Marbceuf had been suppressed. The
constant demand for central building-sites, weakly or avariciously yielded by-the
city in response to perpetual applications, had resulted in encumbering the heart
of the metropolis, and rendering the whole capital unhealthy. The transforma-
tion of Paris, the creation of Squares, the ruthless opening of new boulevards,
will cause a long posterity to thank the twenty pacific years of the now dead
and gone Empire. The capital which, first in Europe, had the courage to
350 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHI BIT/ON, 1S76.
devour and digest its proud edifices and transform them into groves, remains
as a healthful example, from which not France alone, but Europe and the
civilized world will profit. The author of the text in the Provienadcs de Paris
is the engineer A. Alphand.
Strictly an art-work is the illustrated life of Thorwaldsen, by Eugene Plon,
exiiibited in the collection of E. Plon & Co., printers and publishers of Paris.
It is a fine homage from France to Denmark, and America also can come in
for a share of the tribute through the translation published by Roberts. The
two cuts we give, however (page 349), do not appear in the Boston edition.
Tiiat radiant art-critic, Theophile Gautier, remarks of this work and its embel-
lishments: "The young author has followed up his sources, has traversed
Denmark, looking up the traces of his hero, consulting the reminiscences of
those who knew him, and begging for those particulars of home and family
which throw a light on a physiognomy kept too far off, too statuesque ; for we
are apt to figure Thorwaldsen as God Tiior himself striking with his hammer
a block of marble similar to a lump of polar ice." M. Eugene Plon has com-
posed a full catalogue of the works of the illustrious Danish sculptor, and has
added to his text, besides the two beautifiil engravings of Venus and Morury,
a large number of charming wood-cuts, of the purest design, representing single
figures, groups, reliefs, and fragments of the master's compositions. We need
hardly add our approval of a work which has passed the critical muster of
such a judge. Of the two statues indicated, the "Venus" was executed in
Rome ; Thorwaldsen employed for it more than thirty models. Casting aside
a first essay made in 1S05, the sculptor began about 181 2 to labor assiduously
on this figure, which after more than three years of steady labor he finished
in 181 6, at the age of forty-six. The first three copies were made for Lord
Lucan, the Duchess of Devonshire, and Mr. Labouchere. The duchess's pur-
chase was broken in unloading the vessel carrying it, and the fracture in the
copy, now at Chatsworth, concealed by a gold bracelet. That of Lord Lucan
was shipwrecked, and then, in unloading, a rope broke, and the marble dropped
into a cargo of wheat, Ceres thus saving Venus. The "Mercury" belongs to
about the same period. Walking one day in the Corso, the ardst saw, seated
at the curb-stone, a porter, whose attitude was at once so uncommon and so
natural that he was immediately impressed ; as usual, he made a rapid sketch
THE FINE ART LITERATURE.
3S1
Scene in Bati
of the figure in his note-book, and this Roman boor became the Greek Mercury,
finished in 1819. Several copies exist of this beautiful, severe conception: one
352 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
in Lord Ashburton's collection, one in Count Potocki's, and one purchased by
the Spanish government. Mercury, having just put Argus to sleep by playing
on the syrinx, gently moves the instrument from his lips and draws his sword
to decapitate the spy ; the god is seated, but on the point of rising. Artists
examine with more than common interest the slight but accurate drawings that
illustrate Plon's Thorwaldsen ; they are the work of F. Gaillard, an artist who
has lately carried to unprecedented degrees the excess of manipulation in aqua-
fortis, and who is now known as the incomparable etcher of Antonello's portrait
of the Condottiere, of Van Eyck's " Man holding a Carnation-Flower," and of
Michael Angelo's "Twilight."
Published by Henri Plon, same address in the rue Garanciere as the last,
is the illustrated edition of the Count de Beauvoir's "Voyage autour du Monde,"
one of the handsomest novelties exhibited at Philadelphia. From among the
embellishments we select the torrid-looking picture presented by an "Arroyo"
in Bangkok (page 351). The Count de Beauvoir is a young diplomate who
about eight years ago circumnavigated the globe on a voyage of exploration,
acting as companion to the Duke de Penthievre, a son of the Prince de Join-
ville. The record of his travels includes the United States, San Francisco,
Yeddo, Pekin, Canton, Siam, Java, and Australia. It is delightful reading; he
everywhere shows die tact of a man of the world, and the cheerfulness of a
philosopher to which the strongest experiences are welcome. Francisque de
Sarcey, speaking of his work, exclaims, "Come, there are still youthful spirits
left in France ! M. de Beauvoir is a pleasant companion to know. He does
the honors of his extreme youthfulness so gracefully, he flashes out with such
genuine and contagious mirthfulness !" He gives the most piquant details of
the harems where the sultanas of Java are secluded, and of the well-regulated
life of the seventy-three princes of Siam, sons of King Mongkut: eats rats
and dogs, and pides the seven hundred widows of the second Siamese king,
huddled around the golden bowl which preserves for them the person of their
defunct lord. The book of M. de Beauvoir has been translated without the
illustrations, and the typography is superior in the French original.
In presendng, with all modesty, a specimen engraving from M. Belloy's
" Christopher Cohmibus" the proprietors of the Illustrated Catalogue are forced
to speak for a moment of themselves. They can but salute their own image,
THE FINE ART LITERATURE. 353
354 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
as it were, in the glass whicli the Exposition furnished of their hitherto fortu-
nate enterprises, and in the reflection which this Catalogue transmits of them
and their illustrious compeers in art publication. Among the noble works made
rich by art labors, not the least beautiful, not the least appropriate to the subject
of the Centennial, was surely this monumental tribute to Columbus, ably trans-
lated by Mr. R. S. Hunter, and enriched by the etchings and designs of the
famous Leopold Flameng. On page 353 we print one of Flameng's wood-cuts,
representing the procession in Barcelona in honor of the discovery of our dear
native country. It is a sumptuous festa, with its train of stout Spanish dis-
coverers in holiday attire, its waving branches of American palm and maize, its
tributary troops of naked savages, and the Spanish banners dangling from the
eaves of the famous Rambla. We are tempted to quote the sparkling passage
referring to this festival, but forbear in time, partly from a careful sense of
propriety, partly from a not unnatural desire to send the reader to the volume
itself. The medal and diploma awarded to the house for the art publications
shown at the Centennial Exposition were for the following, selected by them
from among their recently issued books: ''The Masterpieces of European Art,"
by Philip T. Sandhurst and James Stothert, with one hundred and two steel
plates and nearly two hundred wood engravings; "The Art Treasures of
England" by J. Vernon Whitaker, with sixteen portraits and one hundred and
two steel engravings; and " Illustr.ated C.\tal()Gue: the Masterpieces of the
United States International Exhibition of 1876."
Our steel engraving of "The First Step," and our wood-cut on page 355
of "The Attack," are samples of the embellishments of a very sumptuous
serial publication, the "Mnsee des Deux Mondes," issued and still issuing from
the office of M. Bachelin-Deflorenne, Paris; in each kind of illustration we are
willing to show the excellence of this work, for which are engaged both the
best designers on wood and the best etchers, and whose list of American sub-
scribers we would willingly increase if we could. "The First Step," etched by
Masson, represents Bonnat's picture, full of the most serious excellences, of a
contadina teaching her little boy to walk : we need scarcely insist on the
unusual merit of the nude figure, which in a telling truthfulness of pose and
solidity of modeling is more perfect and real than the finest majolica of Delia
Robbia's. Bonnat's supremacy in flesh painting is now uncontested. The wood-
THE FINE ART LITERATURE.
355
enoraving on page 355 is after a painting of De Neuville's, himself an
experienced designer on tlie boxwood, but letting himself be copied in this
instance by his friend Edmond Yon. It represents an episode In the Franco-
3S6 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
Prussian war: we see the small public squares of a village; the French soldiers,
meaning to occupy and fortify the place, and engaged in carrying faggots for
chevaiix de /rise, are surprised by a murderous fire from every window that
looks upon the place, opened by the Germans, who have already taken pos-
session of the town and concealed themselves in the houses. M. de Neuville,
known of old as a brilliant designer, is becoming eminent in the more compli-
cated line of oil-painting, in which specialty his subjects inspired by the late
war hold a conspicuous place.
The noble steel-plate of "Christ on the Waters" is a representative illus-
tration from what probably ought to be called, after all the worthy publications
to which we have alluded, the finest art-book of our generation. It is published
by Hachette, from whose display at Philadelphia we have already selected the
Yo Semite picture taken from the Tour dit IMondc. But the "Bida Bible" is
a work of monumental importance, projected and destined to be the standard
and glory of the house. This publication gave special employment to many
industries. The types used were cut new by \ iel-Cazal, from designs by
Rossrgneux ; the printing, which frequently combines the impression of the
steel-plate on the same page with the impression of the type, was done under
the supervision of Hedouin, the etcher, for the engravings, and of the great
printer Claye for the typography. The vellum paper, for the choicest editions,
was made at two different French factories ; the Holland paper, for the rest,
by the Dutch manufacturer Breet ; the ink was specially made by Lorilleux.
This carefully distributed responsibility has resulted in one of the masterpieces
of printing of all time. The printed page is a picture, and the etchings, we
were going to say, are paintings. A talented Hebrew, M. Bida, well known
for his travels and studies in the Holy Land, supplied all the illustrations,
which were etched for the work by the most prominent artists in aqua-fortis,
such as Leopold Flameng, Celestin Nanteuil, Hedouin, Chaplin, Gaucherel,
P)odmer, Veyrassat, and Henriette Brown. The Gospels, or "Evangels" may
be bought separately. The translation of the latter is the fine one of the
great Bossuet. Very beautiful, in religious sentiment, in artistic sentiment, in
close oriental sentiment, in suggestion of color and painting quality, is the
etching we select of "Christ on the Waters." In addition to the etchings, and
in function half-way between printers' ornaments and illustrations, are the
THE AMUI.1ET §E-XiI^]BM.o
U.S. Intemati oaal EAiia Hon 18 7 6
REBBIE a. BiKRJE .
*♦
From "Les Jardins, Histoire tt Description
A Garden Party in the Fifteenth Century,
358 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, i8j6.
numerous tail-pieces, initial letters and titles: these are no common electro-
types, such as decorate ordinary works, but are exquisite steel engravings, from
new desions by Rossigneux, forming the most graceful imaginable combinations
of palm-branches and willow-leaves with carved scroll-work and shields. The
Bible, in this most poetic presentment of M. Hachette's, is seen for the first
time illustrated in a vein of perfect unity and harmony, and with its distinctive
coloring as an Oriental revelation adequately recognized.
Nothing can so fidy come after the sacred pre-eminence of such a Picto-
rial Bible, as the noblest work of our age in general Art-Literature. This is
L'Art, celebrated already as the most expensive periodical anywhere published,
and having a merit more than equal to its cost. France possessed, before the
rise of this splendid serial work, an admirable art-journal, La Gazette des Beaux-
Arts, devoted to criticisms on picture-exhibitions and the elucidation of dark
passages in art-history ; the Gazette had such a brilliant reputadon that there
was something audacious in the announcement, some three years ago, of a new
critical organ intended to follow almost the same course. When L'Art
appeared, however, it was seen to fill a need not provided for by the journal
already in the field. The unusual size especially — that of a full folio — gives
opportunity for ample and adequate copies of pictures, and never before has
the enterprise of preparing large copper-plate reproductions of works freshly
exhibited in the Paris Sa/on or the London Royal Academy been carried
so far.
L'Art has also represented, among its splendid etchings, fine works by
the old masters, among which about a dozen belonging to the valuable American
gallery of the late William T. Blodgett have formed master-attractions. The
serial in question is the first French journal which has ever given prominence
to English work; an English editor has been appointed, and regular reports,
with pictures, are rendered of the London exhibitions. L'Art appears weekly,
but American subscribers, not liking to have their copies rolled, or defaced in
the mail, usually wait until the numbers have been collected into quarterly
volumes, for which reduced terms can be obtained from the American agent,
Mr. Bouton.
The criticaster's diatribes against "newsy Illustrations" ought to be silenced
by so powerful a work, so broad in its minuteness, so silvery and pure in its
THE FINE ART LITERATURE.
359
embellishments, so quietly skillful in its composition. L'Ari was the only work
exhibited in Philadelphia by its publisher, A, Ballue,
The Wheat- Field.
To show that exquisite French typography, and a system of illustrations
quite up to the demands of the time, issue from the provinces as well as from
Paris, we give a specimen picture from Arthur Mangin's beautiful work on
36o THE INTERNATIONAL EX H I B I TI N, 1 8 7 6.
"Les Jardins" published by Alfred Mame & Son, in what Balzac calls the
"laughing, slobbering, amorous, cool, flowery and perfumed city of Tours." The
work of M. Mangin treats of the history of gardening, in different nations,
from the hanging gardens of Semiramis down to the present time, and gives
descriptions and views of modern English gardens, Italian gardens, and gardens
in the style of Le Notre. Our cut, "A Garden Party in the Fifteenth Century,"
(page 357) represents a Flemish enclosed green-house, where the summer light
falls through the close steamy atmosphere of the place upon plumes and tiaras,
buff-coats and halberds, lords and ladies, in the cumbrous pomp of Albert
Diirer's groups.
The publishing house now managed by H. Loones, in the rue de Tournon,
Paris, represents a very old establishment of which he is the successor.
Antoine-Auguste Renouard, a linguist and bibliophilist, founded the business
in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The present representative pub-
lishes, in large majority, books dedicated to the fine arts. Among others, the
safe and methodical works ^of Charles Blanc will long have a peculiar value
for their careful statement of facts and just criticism. It is not alone for the
excellence of the engravings with which it is replete, but for the good judg-
ment of the opinions expressed, that we cite M. Blanc's " Histoire des Peintres."
A sounder work of criticism it would be hard to find. It is in fourteen volumes,
with three thousand one hundred and eighty engravings, of which we borrow
four. Charles Blanc is a brother of Louis Blanc, the polidcal theorist and
historian. Our specimen pictures are respectively chosen from the English
school, the Dutch school, the Italian school, and the French school. The first
represents "The Wheat-Field" (page 359), one of Constable's fine succulent-
looking landscapes; the next (page 361), one of Roberts' celebrated church
interiors; the next (page 363), the magnificent "Entombment" by Titian, of
which the original is in the Louvre; the last (page 365), "The Pointers," by
the French animalist, Franq:ois Desportes. In the English scene we detect the
freedom, the motion, the bursting sense of life which, combined with masterly
technical skill in relief and atmosphere, made Constable the true father of
modern landscape. The trees seem pushing up from the ground with the vigor
of the tide of life which animates them. First of landscape painters, Constable
put sap into his trees. The incidents are charming — the shepherd-boy in shirt-
THE FINE ART LITERATURE.
361
Fro>n Blanc's "Histoire des Peintres."
Church Interior.
sleeves, flat on his stomach, and dipping his snub nose into the stream as he
drinks ; his dog, astutely managing the flock in his stead, yet giving a cursory
sniff in the direction of his young master, wondering a litde what he would
362 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.
be at; above the dog, so that your attention is guided to him, the farmer,
scythe on shoulder, half buried in the tall velvety wheat, and just entered
within the gate-posts, whose broken door he cannot find time to mend in this
ripe season of harvest; above the farmer, the church. A pleasant combination
of probable objects, grandly framed in the elastic and rocking trees. The
church interior is as dry as the other is "juicy." All is spic-and-span ; the
ragged raptures of the "picturesque" have never lacerated this patient, plodding
spirit. He loves order, dusdessness, the gradual shading of daylight up the
long shafts of gray pillars ; his church is in excellent repair, and it is enlivened
with well-arranged groups of orderly worshippers. In the "Entombment,"
Titian seems to unite the merits of the whole Italian body of painters. You
do not miss the grace of Raphael, you do not feel the want of the science of
Michael Angelo, in this noble work, which seems to gather all the learning of
the more classical schools together with that splendor of color and happy loose-
ness of movement of which only Venice got the secret. These three grandiose
bearers, relieved against the sunset like Titans burying a god, and watched by
female faces of terrible agony, contain all that is majestic in character, move-
ment and religious constancy. Especially fine is the gesture of St. John's head
upon his shoulders, giving vent to a world of despair in one broad brusque
motion, and shaking out the dark wildness of the hair against the gathering
twilight. The dog-picture by Desportes is a good conscientious representation
of the breed of Louis XIV's hunting-dogs. The wind must be very strong
from the right-hand side of the scene to enable them to get so near the partridges.
It was remarked that in the galleries of Paintings and Sculpture the French
made a less imposing exhibit than was expected, and the English a finer one.
In the kindred department of Art publications the balance was the other way,
and we consider it the more imperative to take up this subject of Fine Art
literature on that account, while the opportunity to render some justice to the
greatness of the artistic element in France is embraced by us with the more
pleasure since it is a necessity for the restoring of a just equilibrium. There
was, for instance, in the central quarter of the Main Building, an enclosure
dedicated to the exhibit of the "Cercle de la Librairie" of Paris. We have
already drawn upon some of the publishers represented in this association, but
we oueht to mention a few more.
THE FINE ART LITERATURE.
363
Didier & Co. exhibited a specimen of the ''Tresor dc Numismatiqucr a most
elaborate work illustrated with fac-similes of ancient coins, represented with
perfect precision by the Collas process. Firmin Didot showed the splendid
volumes of Paul Lacroix on the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Racinet's "Poly-
364 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 18 jO.
chrome Oniamoit" Wallon's ''yeanne D' Arc," etc. The house of Michel Levy
(now Calmann Levy) exposed Renan's Journey in Phauiicia, with plates, and the
illustrated French novelists. Mame & Son, of Tours (besides Les Jardins,
which we have mentioned), sent Dorfs Bible and GraJidville s La Fontaine.
Morel & Co. sent a long shelf of expensive pictorial works, such as Le Due's
Architecture, a Dictionary of Furniture, L' Art Pour Tons, De Boutowski's
Russian Ornament, Bourgoin's Arab Art, and others. Plon & Co. exposed
(besides the already cited Voyage autour du Monde and Thoiivaldsen) Yriarte's
Goya and Patricien dc Venise, and Bertall's humorous sketches.
In the English department we must not omit the Art yournal, now forming
a long series of bound volumes; the case containing the series of Punch; the
Illustrated London IVews, and the attractive exhibit made by the Graphic.
Germany displayed some pictorial works — we have already mentioned
two — distinguished frequently by painstaking excellence, but not so often by
felicity and lightness of touch. In the separate edifice erected by Spain we
noticed, among a rich representation of the Castilian press in general, precious
examples of the etchings of Goya, gathered in at least three of those often
sought, seldom found volumes of his.
America showed plenty of fine editions, and plenty of illustrated editions,
but not very many of such a strictly artistic character as would fall within the
line we have mentally traced for this department. Appleton's Picturesque
America should be mentioned as a highly creditable performance, lavishly embel-
lished with cuts of high quality. Scribner's serial publications have developed
a new standard of excellence in wood engraving. Those of Harper & Brother
contain illustrations, some of which are original and very good. A Cejitury
After, published by Allen, Lane & Scott, contained a series of cuts rivaling
those of Pictuj-esque America, with text b)- Richard Henry Stoddard and Edward
Strahan. We can scarcely include in our category the often clever illustrated
guide-books to the principal American cities, but we must in justice cite, as
coming the nearest to similar European weeklies in the vigor of its illustrations,
Leslie's Newspaper, many of whose cuts are original.
Our sketchy remarks on the Photography and Fine Art Literature ended,
we devote a few words to three more steel plates. "The Scheldt, Texel
THE FINE ART LITERATURE.
365
Island," is from a fine painting by the late Charles Stanfield, which was lent by
the Royal Academy, and hung near Frith's " Marriage of the Prince of Wales."
It shows that mastery of composition which Stanfield learned from his early
trade as theatrical decorator and that neatness, nattiness and over-cleanliness
of which Ruskin complains in Stanfield's pictures. It certainly gives that
366
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76.
delicious motion of water dancing in a light wind which nobody ever caught
like Stanfield. "Oxen Plowing" is an etching by Peter Moran, of Philadelphia,
from Rosa Bonheur's great picture in the Luxembourg entitled "Labourage
Nivernais." Mr. Moran exhibited in Gallery 22, Annex, five frames of animal
subjects in aqua-fortis, of which this was one. All of Mile. Bonheur's thoroughl)''
trained draughts-womanship is shown in Mr. Moran's copy, while her imperfect
color and qiialite are discreetly vailed. When the history of American Etching,
now an infant, comes to be written, Mr. Moran's name will be famous as that
of one of the progenitors. "Roger and Angelica," by Theobald Chartran, a
young pupil of Cabanel, is suitable for a plafond, or ceiling decoration. The
young Parisian has sent to America, in this graceful and elegant theme from
Tasso's Jerusalem, an exquisite tribute from French art to Italian literature.
What we would have had to say about the display in Memorial Hall, and
the relations of Fine Art to Industrial Art and Art Applied, have been so
admirably anticipated in the monograph on "Industrial Art," that we can only
refer our readers to the 508th and following pages of that well-digested treatise.
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