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    Expositions , hare no longer any need of them . If they exhibit , it may be seen _ Sof some only-that their hand is failing . Others fear to meet dangerous competitors . It will be pretended that Art should not be vulgarised ; that it is irood to shut it up in sanctuaries , less frequently visited , and , consequently , more imposing for the people . Then we shall hear of the dangers of exaggerated , intemperate production , and how Art is thus degraded ; with other commonplaces well known , but / unfortunately , always influential , though they have been always triumphantly refuted when a man of large and truly liberal ideas has undertaken to examine them . ^ . A propos of the annuality of Expositions , it is worth while saying why , under the Empire , it was not yet asked for , and why at that time young and ambitious artists did not feel its want . The reasoning we have alluded to was then also in vogue , and it was received for good . Every one was ready to accept , without any complaint arid with complete reverence , the decisions of the jury that presided over the admission of works presented when Expositions did take place . This j was exclusively composed of members of the Institute . The

    exhiury bitors were all their disciples , their enthusiastic admirers , -and it must be said , to the honour of that corporation at the epoch when it really flourished , when it recruited itself with the greatest intelligence in the most complete unity , that it was full of benevolence for the youth who studied under its direction , and in whose ranks each master pointed out with pride examples of the excellence of the principles he had instilled , and proofs that he would be worthily succeeded . At that time , in fact , there was only one idea of art in Prance , one school , one form , one taste , implying certainly some shades and some variations , but excludin" all real opposition and contrast . The crowded atelier of David and the solitary atelier of Prud'hon ; the ateliers branching from that of David and presided over by Girodet , by Gros , by Gue ' rin ; the competing ateliers of Lethiere , of Vincent , of Regnault , were all of one and the same communion . But when that school , assuredly too much decried now-a-days , and treated with and when

    a disdain passably unintelligent , began to show signs of weakness , other tendencies in art made themselves manifest , towards the epoch of the Restoration , when so many things in France entered upon a new career , all young ambitions and convictions found themselves to be extravagantly checked and limited by the exclusive doctrines of the Institute . That corporation had fallen into the rut of routine . The influence of its founders began to make itself felt . It was filled with the last disciples of the Davidian family—always beneath the level of their master , and then fallen from their original excellence . We need not be surprised , therefore , considering the temper of those times , if more frequent Expositions were tumultuously called for . Young Art felt that if it could only appeal to the public it would soon escape from the Academic gripe . On all sides the systematic spirit of the commission of examination , that decided magisterially on works offered for exhibition , was attacked .

    The movement was so violent and vigorous that even before the Revolution of 1830 , the opposition had already gained some brilliant victories , Gericault had obtained a place for his " Me'duse , " which the Institute had received , however , only by the majority of a single voice , yet which w 111 ever remain one of the finest productions of the French school . Sigalon had exhibited his " Locuste , " and thus led the van of the revolutionists , who left the atelier of Gue ' rin and of Abel de Fujol ^ the Scheffers , the Delacroix , and the Decamps . The Institute , however , had understood the danger , and in order to suppress these terrible competitors , had decided that no other Exposition should take place for an indefinite time . But during the excitement of 1830 , Young Art-broke out into complete insurrection , and led by its natural chiefs , by men wholiad already , in some measure , been able to show their value , and win general sympathy ,

    obtained partly by its own strength , partly by the liberal dispositions of Louis Philippe in the first days of his reign , an Exposition which may well be said to have sprung from the Barricades . It may be called the birthplace of the modern school . There were seen for the first time the remarkable and masterly works of the sculptor Barye , disciple of Bosio , of the Institute , whose works had been refused up to that period at all Expositions , and who had himself been practically expelled from the official school—because of the character of individuality and novelty of his first essays—with the salve of the second great prize at all the concours ; -for -the second great prize ,- as every-one _ knows ,. leads neither to Rome nor anywhere else . . Barye had received many of these useless compliments in various branches of the arts of design ; but though incontestably superior to all his competitors , was systematically kept out of sight of the public until the inauguration of the new era . the

    It was at the Exposition of 1831 that first appeared landscape painter , Rousseau , now counted as one of the masters of the young school , but who so scandalised academical taste , that , during nearly twenty years that followed , though he sent his paintings with imperturbable patience before the jury , he was never received again . It seemed , as it were , necessary that a new revolution should take place to rescue , this heretic from the despotism , so much attenuated , nevertheless , of the Academical Commission , and to give him the importance and the honours which the first had promised him . In 1848 , in another Exposition born of the Barricades , and carried out in the midst of complete liberty , Rousseau reappeared , and he is now member of the Legion of Honour , for his talent , —has taken rank among the masters of the French school , and has ever since figured , and will always probably figure for the future , as a member of the Jury of Admission deciding on the claims of artists , perhaps of a still more revolutionary school .

    It was at the same Exposition that Corot was first enabled to come out of obscurity , and begin a career very similar to that of Rousseau , though less painfully marked , with Marilhat , his rival , whom France has recently lost ; and Cabat , a landscape painter , also celebrated . Then , or soon afterwards , appeared at last all the works which have given renown to the truly active and productive generation of the French school : —" The Liberty" of Delacroix , his " Massacre of Scio , " his " Christ in the Garden of Olives , " the most beautiful productions of , ' his youth that promised ao much ; " The Souliote Women , " the tender scenes taken from German poetry and the epic of Dante by Schetfer ; " The Battle of the Cimbri , " the " Turkish Corps de Gnrde , " the " Turkish Patrol , " and all the Oriental reminiscences of Decamps ; the "St .

    Simphorien" and the " OGdipus" of M . Ingres ; the "Birth of Henri IV ., " by Deveria ; the " Mazoppa" of Boulauger ; the scenes of military disaster and snow-effects in Russia , by Charlet ; battles and triumphs , the "Fontenoy , " the " Harold , " of Horace Vernet ; the scones of the Inquisition , the Councils , all the legend of the Middle Ages and of the- Renaissance , by Robert Fleury ; the marine landscapes of Isaboy and Gudin ; the tableaux de genre of Roqueplan ; the popular scenes , the shepherds and tho peasants ,, of Jeanron . Such were some of tho results—and no one can deny that thoy were brilliant—of the means suddenly afforded to young artists of becoming familiarly known to the public . As we have seen , howovcr , the Now System was presided over in an exclusive spirit . I shall say something further of its fortunes in a subsequent letter .

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    THEATRES . We have only space this week to record the success of Mr . Sterling Coyne's new play , The Secret Agent , at tho Haymarket . The play is founded upon an article published some four months since in Blackwood , and the article was founded upon a German comedy , in five acts , which are here reduced to two . At the ADur . pni an " original" adaptation ( without acknowledgment ) ot Madame Emilb de Girardin's Cliapeau d ' un Horloger has been produced . I » e part of tho servant , plnyed by Lesuour at the Gymnase , has been transposed lor Mrs . Keeley , who is inimitable . As for tho adaptation , we can only romarK that all tho wit and all tho finesse of tho original have been dexterously expunged . We should be glad to see Mr . Buckstoiio in a hotter version ot tins piece At tho Lyceum Mr . Charles Mathows has brought out two new translations from tho French . Their English names are Take that Girl away and JM L , i » y Couple . In both Mr . Charles Mathows is tho life and soul of tho scone . " » incessant vivacity is irresistible . _ ___„! * At tho MAKYhEBONK . TAc Winter '? Tale has been revived , and at bAI "; "; Wem , s Mr . Phelps has had a splendid house to his benefit . Ho played woiwj and Baillic NicolJarvie to admiration . ! fh At the Stan da no , in Shoreditch , Miss Glyn is triumphant as Cleopatra , wn » a rather ovorwoighted Antony , in the shape of Mr . Henry Marston .

    Untitled Article

    ART GOSSIP AT BERLIN . ( From an occasional Correspondent ) . If any proof were needed of the poverty of the German stage the success of the Fechter von Ravenna would furnish it . That play has been quite an event , and although it has been severely handled by some critics , it has been enthusiastically lauded by others , and has made a sensation everywhere . Something of this may perhaps be due to the mystery which surrounds its authorship . It is attri . buted to a Prince of Saxony , to a nephew of Webek , and more generall y to Count Munch Beixinghausen , whose Ingomarvrsis drearily performed at Drury Lane , under Mr . Anderson ' s management . The subject of the piece is one which a real dramatist would have made very striking . The son of Arminius , brought a captive child to Rome , is reared , in ignorance of his birth , a gladiator in the school of Ravenna . The rough young German has become an accomplished

    gladiator , proud of his profession and eager to distinguish himself . His mother , Thusnelda , comes to him , reveals to him his birth , and urges him to place himself at the head of the German army , and free his country from the Roman yoke . Thusnelda is an impersonation of Germany . She makes terribly long speeches about Deutschland , which are meant to inflame the ardour of her son , and rouse the pit to patriotic transports . But she talks a language which the gladiator does not understand , and which wearies the pit a little ! The reader sees , however what a fine dramatic collision lies in this subject—the mother all enthusiasm for Germany , the son indifferent to Germany , and anxious ouly " to make a Roman holiday . " Instead of dramatically presenting this collision , the author contents himself with indicating it , and making five acts of rhetoric about it . Thusnelda , maddened at the thought of Germany ' s dishonour , should her son appear in the gladiator ' s arena , implores him not to persist in his purpose . He is inflexible , and she stabs him while he sleeps , preferring his death to his

    dishonour . Weak as the play is , the performance here is even weaker . I except Herr Dessoir ' s performance of Caligula , the only well-written character in the piece > and a really dramatic presentation of the effeminate and wasted tyrant . Unhappily this Caligula has but one scene ; and one . scene is not enough to enliven five acts . This same Herr Desboir has been playing Richard /// with immense success , and I hope he will play it in London if ever the German troupe reappears at the St . James ' s . It will give our Richards many a new idea , and the public will see something surpassing all they have seen since Keanthe Kean electrified them with his lion-like power and demoniac grandeur . Not that Herr Dessoir is to be compared with Kean . fie has not his qualities ; but he has so fine and subtle an appreciation of the part , he represents the intellect , restlessness , and vigour of Richard with such intelligence , that he makes this wearisome play ( and you may imagine how wearisome it is when I tell you they perform the " text" of Shakspeare" with conscientious fidelity ) worth seeing twiceas I have seen itmerely to note his reading of the part .

    , , Vivier is here , giving concerts , and startling the Prussian mind with some of his colossal mystifications . He is certainly a genius of the highest rank in mystification . His horn-playing—matchless as it is—sinks into insignificance beside the inventive ingenuity of his practical jokes . —In his concerts he has Roger and the Wagner to assist him . Roger , the French tenor , is as great a favourite here as Mario is in London ; and certainly to hear him sing German is a great treat , for not only does he sing so much better than the German tenors ( a terrible race ) , he also pronounces German so much better than they do . Germans confess this . A slight foreign accent he has , but not enough to prevent its

    being agreeable , while his elimination of the guttural coarseness into which German singers are betrayed , renders his pronunciation delightful . He is performing at the Opera here . The Waoner should never venture into a concert . room . - The stage is her throne . As a dramatic singer she can have few rivals ; as a concert singer " sncTiiTseebnd-rate ; and"if sliei goestoAmerica to sing in concerts she will undoubtedly " make a flask , " as the Italians say . Apropos of music , Liszt has completed a sj'inphony in three parts on the subject of Faust . The three parts severally express Faust , Gretchen , and Mephistopheles . He has also in the press nine Poesies Musicales , which are to show the world the fruits of his Weimar seclusion .

    While gossiping thus , I must not omit to send you a bit of news which makes the heart beat with expectation . Rauch , the sculptor , has just shown me a letter from Athens , in which it is stated that the temple of Juno has been excavated at Argos , and as many as , three hundred fragments of statues have already been recovered . Remember that this temple was , in the life of Polycletes . what the Parthenon was in the life of Phidias—that it contained the masterpieces of his art , at a time when art was at its apex of glory—and you can form some idea of the thrill which this announcement will give every lover of sculpture . The Greek government will not , it is supposed , sell the treasures , but it has no money to devote to their restoration . Casts are to bo taken of them ; and ere long we may hope to feast our eyes on works worthy to be placed beside the Elgin marbles 1 " ¦

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1855, page 260, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2082/page/20/