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    J&NE 28, 185^.] THE Ir.E A © EIL ffi&

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    (flT tl> ^VTW Wl)l JUrW*

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    THE FRENCH EXHIBITION. AN annual display...

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    RISTOM AS PIA DEI TOLOM.EI. Madame Risto...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Gabriel. Gabriel. By Bessie Rayner Parke...

    When fnemoiy sheathes her poisoned fangs , And ttye beating present holds its breath ; The - past is cut away from us , And the . future hides her face . 4 The look we see and the womr ^ ve hear Are : the whole of time and space . But enough of objection , 'even though it be made in no captious spirit : the-spaee which remains to us wewill occupy -with a few specimens of the beauties that may be found in this poem of Gabrid . Miss Parkes ' s manner is df ten like that of the poet whom she sings ; sometimes it reminds us of

    Leigh Hunt ( who is eviaently the person alluded to In the dedication , and who is likewise obscurely hinted at in the poem itself ); and sometimes there is a touch of the older masters—as in these lines , which are like an echo from the tune of Shakspeare ' s Sonnets : — Tho' I , -ill . gifted-with perpetual powers , Should live till when the virgin forest yields J £ or untouched beauty toa thousand towers , And these again their stones to lonely fields , & c . And here Tre might fancy we were reading a couplet from William Browne ' s Pastorals : —

    Torth from such smile doth that fine influence run , As when thro' green leaves streams the westering sun . We do not mention these similarities of manner in any degree as a reproach . ; in fact , it is a refreshment to our debilitated modern verse to bathe in the clear , vigorous , early streams . The following is very felicitous : it is spoken of the poet who is cast out by the world .: — He , sitting throned upon the mountain top , Shall see the pnrple vapours slowly drop Into the vale below : ~~ His lot may not be east in pleasant lines , But he shall hear the wind among the pines , And the free torrents flow .

    The many torrents flowingto the sea , Gathering their separate waters silently , Then falling , falling , falling , " He shall with keen unfretted ear discern As surely as by sight , and he shall learn Each faint etherial calling Of voice to voice , from peak to peak , which blend Prophetic utterances withouten end . And here is another charming piece of natural description , written with sreference to Shelley himself : — He loved the water like some creature nursed In it by right of nature from the first ; Whether it were the broad and placid river ,

    Or sharp swift stream like arrow shot from quiver Of blue lakes up the fastness of the hills . Or the light foam-spray of the leaping rills , Or gray horizon Of the boundless sea Streak'd by the passing cloud perpetually . In truth there was about his subtle mind A something mixt of water and of wind , A dainty colour , an aerial play , Which tinged his speech and touch'd his rhymes alway . In a poem , supposed to be written by Gabriel , there are these fine lines , descriptive of Italian scenery : — Piling clouds and lonely sea , Mountains in supremacy , Temples roofless on the plain , Calling their old gods in vain . We could isolate many such passages , but must conclude with one more only The lines in the second stanza , referring to the ghostly suggestions of Autumn , are most original and true . What sensitive mind has not experienced that indefinable feeling , in the still , hot dying of the year?—Thia is the time when the year ' s in its prime , And the rich honeysuckle is blent with the clover , When Nature yearns for the poet ' s rhyme , And the sweetbrier breaks into kisses all over ; When young fawns leap to the tender chime Of their mother ' s bells , and quick eyes discover How the rabbits run and the squirrels climb , And we look < tt the earth with the smile of a lover . But wait for a while till the summer is past , And woods have a rumour t / tat prophesies deatA , A sombre foreshadowing borne on the blast , Which comes in a moment and dies at a breath , A somet / ihig , a nothing , which touches the leaves ^ And haunts the hot meadows at noon like a wraith , And crisps the broad cornfields just bare of their sheaves , And I'll show you my blossom and suy what it saith .

    J&Ne 28, 185^.] The Ir.E A © Eil Ffi&

    J & NE 28 , 185 ^ . ] THE Ir . E A © EIL ffi &

    (Flt Tl&Gt; ^Vtw Wl)L Jurw*

    € \) t Mil

    The French Exhibition. An Annual Display...

    THE FRENCH EXHIBITION . AN annual display of p ictures by leading French artists is an « ponmont of that kind the exact value of which is measured by success . Is t ere ^ P ™ lent wish in this country to " improve the acquaintance" of « ie modern linLiich schools of art ? We arc happy to see this question so » 8 ^ J % 5 » « jJ £ > the crowds of visitors , every day , to the gallery in l ' all Mall . | he c < ree lmnthu year—the third since the scheme was inaugurated—counts about three hun * £ fi & thirty pictures . Of those the principal ««^ *™ ° f * ° Zl \ ohe and belong to the school which , in the wordB of Mr . Ruskin seems to ^ bo araduoily constituting a specie * of manufacture , to Bupply * ° Jj ^ J dnmiog-rooms with pictures aa Sevres does with china . Hirom , a rn hi an 1 general cenBure of this school , Mr . Ruskin excepts our old favour e fc « o ahi > F * aws—at least wo cannot suppose that ho means any other , when , with bis

    usual fatality In the matter of names , he mentions Edouabd Pierre as being " quite unequalled in sincerity and truth ojf conception . " " Perhaps , " adds Mr . Ruskin , "I ought to have said truth of sight , rather than truth of conception , " alluding to the fact that M . Frkre rambles from cottage to cottage telling 4 he peasantry " never to mind him , ** and recording with such historical fidelity the actual scenes , the moment of action , and the position of the minutest objects , that , being on one occasion requested to enrich a particular study with some piece of delf or pewter from another picture , he answered , "No , I cannot do that ; it was not in the same cottage . " We repeat this delightful story to the honour of the painter , as well as of Mr . Buskin , who lets no opportunity slip . of advocating a like conscientious course of study and labour , and who calls these little works of M . Frere " examples of true historical painting , " regarding which " it is quite impossible to say what importance may , in some future day , attach to them , as records of the French peasant life of the nineteenth century . "

    As -we have intimated , pictures of the same calibre as those by M . Frere are the staple of this exhibition . Those artists who most nearly approach him ia truth of character and circumstance , are Antigua , Bxlxoxte ( whose Breton scenes are painted witli the delicacy and freshness observable in pictures of tbj $ same kind by the English artist Goodall ) , Meissonnier , Chavet , PatboisL Duvbkcer , and Seignac . Of painters who affect the peculiar combination 0 * high finish and bluntness—to use the only word that can express the very opposite effect to that of the sharp touch generally perceptible in highly finished English works of the same class—there are also Mdlle . Henrietta Bkown , and MM .. Fichel , Chaplin , Accard , and Plassan ; only we separate these painters from the school of which M . Frerb is at the head , because , though partaking of its mannerism , they have little in common-with its spirit . We should divide the great body of French artists who pursue this method of soft , dim blending of colours , into two classes : the artists who paint , like Frerk ,

    Meissonier , and Bii / lotte , from observation of living character ; and the artists who go back for character , and a certain rococo liveliness which is anything but life , to Lanchet . But even these last deservepraise for truth , if only of texture , in such matters as a ribbon , a satin slip , or a piece of cambric . The larger kind of -work , calling for the larger conception and the larger handling rarely shows an equal power of dealing with every object . In landscape , especially , -we find every thing just hinted at , and no more . In M . Auguste Bon > heur ' s " Cattle descending the Mountains , " and in the same painter ' s hunting scene in the forest of Fontainebleau , vre perceive , for instance , the allusion to grass , though it would be impossible for us to do so , were the context taken , away . The only painter on a large scale who is careful to preserve distinctness in the textures of all his accessory details , is Biard . To be sure , there is the great Delaeoche ; but he is represented only by one of his early and best-known works—quite useless as an instance in the present case—the " Napoleon crossing theAIps . " _ __ _ . . „ _ ....,,. I ,, ___ » cked Rescued landers

    Biard ' s chief picture is " A Shipwre Crew by Lap . There is immense study apparent in this work , every igure in which has a distinct meaning and purpose there . In his humorous \ rorks M . Biard , whose power of varying expressions is accompanied by a singular and uniform dryness , giving the idea of a genial invention working by proxy , is not so effective . We would , however , draw attention to his " English Travellers in France , " " French Travellers in England , " as containing many shrevd bits of observation . One of the very best pictures in the gallery , though at first sight it appears rather staring and coarse , is " A Church Porch in Paris on Palm Sunday . " The painter is M . Hillemachee . We are sorry that we missed another picture of his , the " Death of a Zouave , " because vre should have liked to see how a painter so thoughtful would have dealt with a tragic incident . The directors of this exhibition have , in their laudable anxiety to do justice to every exhibitor , fallen into a mistake . In order that a fair opportunity for inspection may be given in the case of each work , there is a constantly shif ting process carried on . The numbers in the catalogue , therefore , afford little clue to the discovery of the pictures on the walls . In this difficulty the attendants are always ready to afford help ; but no one likes to cause so much trouble as would be required to point out half the -works named in the catalogue .

    Ristom As Pia Dei Tolom.Ei. Madame Risto...

    RISTOM AS PIA DEI TOLOM . EI . Madame Ristohi has appeared in a third character . She has played Piain Marenco ' s play— Pia dei Tolomei . It is to be hoped tliat this artist will be enabled before she quits the stage , to exhibit her dramatic genius m some tragedy that shall be worthy of her . The Medea had many faults , but it certainly had the merit of giving the actress ample scope for producing startling effects . It was not tedious , for it was , in fact , a collection of situations . But the Pia dn Tolomei is a play in five acts—the plot is wretched—and tlie circumstances are not such aa to give the actress any very great opportunities . Pia is that famous lady of Dante : — Deh quando tu sarai tomato al mondo , IS riposato della lunga via , Seguitb ' 1 torzo spirito al Becondo : Kicorditi di me , cue son la I'ia , Siena mi fe ' , disfecemi Maremma . Sulai colui , cho ' unanellata priu , Diaposando , in' avea con sua gemma . Ah ! when thou shnlt be returned unto the world , And rested after the long journey , A third spirit followed the second thus : Remember thou me , tlmt I am Pia , Sienna bore me , the Maroinma undid me . This ho knows who gave mo once the ring * With hie own jewel when he wedded me . Her husband , JSinaldo , prompted by unfounded doubts of her fidelity , . immured her in a castle , amid the pestilential marshes—there to die alone . The story , though prolonged through five acts , is of the simplest , limaldo Koea to the wars against the Florentines , leaves Ugo , liis friend , as deputy . Uno hns long been deeply enamoured of Pia . As soon as Kuialdo is gone , Ugo tempts the virtue of Pia , but is repulsed . Ugo vows vengeance , iftnajcfo returns from the wars defeated . Tlio suspicious mind of Rmaldo had already conceived doubts of his wife ' s fidelity . This "" worthy fceling ^ fosters , and engages to confirm by exhibiting /' ^ conversing with an armed nun . That iiZx ? Jlinaldo takes for a paramour . The innocent ^ Pta takes Mm for her brother-one of the Tolomei then at enmity with / Z »« oWo . Jha »' conveyed to the fatal castle . There Ri naldo hns an interview with her , in which ho denounces her infidelity . Ho declares the proof of her guilt . . ^^ "J ^ 'j * her innocence laughs at his credulity , and declares to her husband KutOo pcrBon with " hom ^ Bhc conversed wu / her brother , But that brother , AmOb

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 28, 1856, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28061856/page/19/