Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

one hand on a greyhound, the fymbol of fidelity

What truth! what peffection in its kind! what intereft, what expreffion in the figure of Valentina! It is a mild and profound melancholy. Thus fhould the paffions be expreffed; without convulfions, without grimace; it is thus that art tranfmits their expreffions; here the profeflion ceafes, and magic and fentiment fucceed. It is before productions that exhibit all thefe illu. fions that the fpectator ftops and forgets himfelf as at the fight of nature.

The exhibition was poor this year., Large vacancies on the walls were an unpleafant fpectacle to the amateurs. The Minifter apprifed the principal artists that the Firit Conful intended to view it on the ft of Vendemiaire; they immediately fent their new pro. ductions, and even thofe which had before gained them public approbation. The exhibition of this year is fuperior to all thofe of preceding years.

We thall not fpeak of the pictures which have appeared in former exhibi. tions, and on which the public opinion is determined; we have, however, obferved with pleasure, that the colour of Gerard's Belifarius has greatly improved with time; which ought to be an encouragement to young artists to adopt a bold ftyle of painting, fince that method produces the good effect of becoming more beautiful with age. This picture by Gerard is without doubt the moft hiftorical, in every refpect, of any that has appeared at the exhibition for feveral years.

The portrait of General Murat, by the fame artist, is an example of the fame grand and beautiful ftyle. Indeed it is almoft a pity that Gerard is fuch an excellent portrait-painter, as persons whom he cannot refufe apply to him for their portraits, and prevent him from purfuing other fubjects, which would eftablish his reputation, if not his fortune.

Painting is fo perfectly the flave of Nature, that whenever the attempts to hake off the authority of the latter, fhe trays and lofes herfelf: it may be faid, that as often as the is guilty of infidelity towards her, the produces nothing but monsters. This reflection, Is fomewhat applicable to Girodet's picture reprefenting the reception of the French heroes by thofe heroes whom Offian fung. Yet although the fubject of this piece is complicated, the execu

tion is perfect, and befpeaks diftin guifhed talent. Underneath the picture is, Girodet to Bonaparte. This is like faying, Apelles to Alexander. Such a dedication appears to proclaim the matureft era of the talent of Apelles, and the most perfect production of that artift; and yet Girodet's fuperb and ingenious pictures of Endymion, the portrait clofe by it, &c. &c. infpire a very different idea of his abilities. He muft undoubtedly be confidered as in the firit rank of French painters; and it must be obferved, that it is only the compofition of this picture that is here found fault with. It is, however, enthufiaftically admired by great numbers of thofe who go to fee it.

The portrait of Lafond repeating the part of Tancred, by Mademoiselle Eugenie de la Porte, is harmonious and well executed. But Lafond must be mortified to appear in public ftudying his part before a looking glafs. That is certainly not the fchool of Melpomene. And however amiable Voltaire may have wifhed to delineate Tancred, he never had any idea that the actor fhould perform that part with ftudied motions and attitudes. The defign of this picture might have been more correct.

The Grecian Callipiges, by Robert Lefevre, notwithstanding the charms they difclofe to the public eye, have not escaped cenfure. A young man is deciding on the beauty of the forms of two fifters, with fuch an enthufiaftic admiration of her to whom he decrees the prize, that he determines to erect a temple to her, and to marry her. He ought not to have the expreffion that would be given to an old debauchee, who, amidit the multiplicity of charms on which he is feafting his eyes, endea. vours to revive fenfations long ago extinguifhed. Has not Lefevre mistaken the manner of treating fuch a fubject? or indeed can it be treated with de cency?

The portrait of a young girl, and of a young woman with a child, by Madame Benoist (Nos. 16 and 17), are excellent productions of an artist already known for her fuccefs. But this is a very different talent from that exhibited in her former works. The ableft painters of the French school might boaft of the picture of the girl holding a branch of lilac, or of having compofed the group of the mother and child. If only the first of thefe

1

portraits

portraits had been exhibited, it might have been imagined that the rather litid appearance of the flesh was natural to the model; but as the fame defect is obfervable in the portrait which is a striking likeness of Madame D-, whole beauty is fo celebrated, and whofe roses are as delicate as her figure; and as an infant exquifitely fair is likewife painted without tranfparence, we muft advise Madame Benoift, who has nevertheless fo nearly approached perfection, to study Vandyke, and particularly Titian.

The picture of an infant in his cradle, carried away by the torrent of an inundation in the month of Nivofe, year 10, by Madame Villers (No. 310), is conceived with the most perfect deli. cacy. The fleep in the midit of danger, the alarm of affection watching over tranquil innocence; what a happy contraft! what a beautiful fubject for the delicate fenfibility of a female pencil. This is the department of the art of hiftorical painting referved for woman, and is not this fufficient? Happy they who poffefs this patrimony, which

cannot be contefted with them.

Somewhat more agitation in the water would have denoted the force of the current which is carrying away the cradle, and a distance that would have separated the inundation from the fky, would have perfected this delightful picture.

The picture of Monfiau is a very refpectable production, in which Moliere is feen reading his Tartuffe at the houfe of Ninon (No. 210), where the great Corneille, Racine, La Fontaine, &c. are affembled. We cannot too highly applaud the artist's idea of collecting in the fame point of view fo many interesting perfons; of painting a whole epoch; of fhewing at the

fame time thofe who were already advanced in years, when the others were but beginning their career; of delineating their characters by the expreffion of their attitudes. Monfiau has fucceeded in producing the effect he defired. La Fontaine is known by his fimplicity and his convulfive gertures; the Marechal de Vivonne by the boldness of his air, &c. The accuracy of the dress likewife deferves praife, and renders the resemblance itill more perfect.

In painting of the Funeral of Atala, Gautherot was deeply impreffed with the melancholy of his fubject. The fpectator recognizes the actors in the novel, and the artist has given them the dignity of history. The pious forrow of Father Aubry is that of refignation, and of a familiarity with misfortune; the figure of Atala ftill wears the expreffion of devotion and celestial fweetnefs. Perhaps there is too much compofure in the grief of Chactas; the darkness of his colour correfponds clofely with the fombre tint of the reft of the picture the painter appears to have been afraid of difturbing the fanctity of his fubject, Although Chactas is on the point of becoming a Chriftian, it muft ftill be obferved that he is young, amorous,and overwhelmed with. grief. For the rest, the artist cannot be too highly commended for having introduced into his picture all the correfponding characteristics which caufe the fpectator to imagine himself on the very spot. He obferves a pure and accurate delineation of the fituation, the costume, the plants, and every fuitable accompaniment: a merit of no fmall importance, which particularly characterifes the French fchool, and which fhines in an eminent degree in the picture of Gautherot,

CONTINENTAL LITERATURE AND LEARNED MEN.

BOTTIGER,

Councillor of the Upper Confiftory, and
Director of the School at Weimar.
THIS celebrated literary charmer pof

feffes the rare talent of performing a multiplicity of bufinefs in a fhort time. On one and the fame day he executes his fcholaftic labours, fuperintends the German Mercury, of which he is now the fole Editor, and the

Journal of London and Paris, answers his numerous correfpondents, &c. and yet in the evening appears at the theatre and in the circle of his friends with

a cheerfulness and vivacity of mind which, like his external appearance, feems not depreffed by his intenfe and almoft exceffive application to study, but exhibits the union of the great talent of facility with the ftill greater one of profoundness. And if any lite

rary,

rary fanger arrives at Weimar with letters of recommendation to him, he ftill can find time to fhew him, before fun-fet, all the greater and fmaller curiofities of the city.

Bottiger's favourite study is archeology, or the application of ancient works of art to the illuftration of the claffics and of the monuments of antiquity. His principal work is "Explanations of Tifchbein's Engravings of Hamilton's new Collection of Greek Vafes," in which he has exhibited many parts of ancient mythology in a quite new point of view; and on this fubject he will fhortly publifh a large work in Latin, entitled "Pantheon." His numerous contributions to various periodical publications treat, for the most part, on antiquarian fubjects, efpecially on the ancients, relative to which he has likewife written a feparate work, not yet published. He has Jikewife prepared for the prefs new editions of Terence and Martial, towards which he had been collecting materials for many years.

[blocks in formation]

whofe fervice, however, he lately has left. His great fpeculative genius in almost all the branches of human industry, and his literary merit, are well known in Germany. He is the founder of fome of the most celebrated and oldeft journals in that country, viz. the Allgemeine Literatur Zeitung, the German Mercury, the Journal of Fashions, the Geographical Ephemerides, and others. With an unwearied fpirit of fpeculation, he directs his attention to every quarter of the globe to find out new branches of commerce. He is connected with focieties of difcovery in the most remote countries, erects new and farms old falt-works, digs gold in

Spain, and pit-coal in Germany. From all this every one juftly concludes, that this great merchant's affairs are in a ftate of the highest profperity. Several years ago a report was current in Weimar, that M. Bertuch intended to fet. tle in Würzburg; the Prince-Bishop having promifed him fome confiderable and very advantageous privileges but thefe promifes were rendered abortive by the unexpected oppofition of the Chapter of Würzburg.

Bertuch acquired his first thousand dollars by his tranflation of Don Quixote, then generally read throughout Germany, and likewife the reputation of being perfectly matter of the Spanish language, of which, however, he poffefled only a fuperficial knowledge. He afterwards published a Spanish Magazine, in three volumes, the Fables of Yuarte, &c. but foon difcovered that that was not the road by which one foon arrives at the Temple, of Wealth. He therefore obtained from the Duke of Weimar a privilege for a Landes-Induftrie Comtoir, which foon became one of the first establishments of the kind in Germany, and now carries on fo extenfive a trade in books, and efpecially in copper plates, maps, and picture books on fubjects of natural history, that Bertuch may be confidered worth at least a hundred thoufand rix dollars.

Bertuch's wife is of as fpeculative a turn as her husband: fhe established at Weimar a manufactory of artificial flowers, and inftructed the young maidens of that city in the art of mak ing them.

Bertuch is likewife the founder, foul, and chief director of the Chalcographic Society, established under the patronage of the Prince of Dessau, who advanced the neceflary funds, which in the courfe of four years has produced a confiderable number of the most beautiful copper-plates.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.

AS you admitted, in your Magazine for Auguft last, the communication I fent from a very rare book, entitled "Strange Hiflories, or Songes, Sonets, &c. 1607;" I am induced to offer another extract from the fame work, an extract, I may add,

the more interesting, as it relates to what has rarely employed the Mufe, the Hiftory of the Isle of Mann, and what has not, it is believed, appeared in any other publication. Yours, &c.

A CONSTANT READER.

THE WINNING OF THE ILE OF MANNE, BY THE NOBLE EARLE OF SALISBURIE.

To the tune of the Kings going to the Par [liament.]

THE noble Earle of Salisburie,

With many a hardy knight,
Moft valiantly prepard hitelfe
Against the Scots to fight:
With his fpeare and his theeld
Making his proud foes to yeeld:
Fiercely on them all he ran

To drive them from the Ile of Man :
Drummes triking on a row,
Trumpets founding as they go,
Tan ta ra ra ra tan.

There filken en fignes in the field

Mott gloriously were pred: The horsemen, on their prauncing fteeds, Strucke many a Scotchman dead. The browne-bils on their corflets ring, The bow-men with their gray-goole wing,

The luftie launce, the piercing fpeare, The foft fleth of their foes do teare: Drummes Ariking, &c.

The battell was fo fierce and hot,

The Scots for feare did flie:

And many a famous Knight,and Squire,
In gorie blood did lie.
Some, thinking to efcape away,
Did drowne themfelves within the fea:

Some, with many a bloody wound, Lay gafping on the clayie ground; Drummes riking, &c. .

Thus after many a brave exployt, That day performd and done, The noble Earle of Salfburie

The Ile of Man had wonne. Returning then moft gallantly With honour, fame, and victorie, Like a conquerour of fame,

To Court this warlike champion came:
Drummes ftriking, &c.

Our king, rejoyceing at this act,
Incontinent decreed

To give the Earle this pleafant Ile,
For his molt valiant deed;
And foorthwith did caufe him than,
For to be crowned King of Man,
Earle of famous Salburie,
And King of Man, by dignitie.
Drummes striking, &c.

Thus was the first King of Man,

That ever bore that name,

Knight of the princely Garter blew,

An order of great fame; Which brave king Edward did devife, And with his perfon royalize : Knights of the Garter are they cald, And eke at Windfor fo initald: With princely royaltie, Great fame and dignitie,

This Knighthood itill is held.

[blocks in formation]

rained violently from the South, till fucceeded by a ftorm of wind from the Weft, which raged with unabated fury to the evening of the 21ft. Several tempefts within thefe twenty-five years have rifen much higher, and been more tremendous for a time, particularly one on New Year's Day 1795, and on the 8th of November 1766; but the oldeft perfon exifting probably never witnessed any inftance of a storm continuing at fuch a pitch fo many hours in fucceffion. As the rude and fevereft blafts in winter are for the most part fucceeded by mild and gentle weather, fo at this crifis, the last week of the month in temperature and drynefs was fcarcely inferior to April.

February. More dry than ufual. March-Bright days, cutting winds, cold nights; no rain, no hail, no fnow. April. Tepid fhowers. On the 27th it rained moderately throughout the whole day.

May. So exceffively dry, that the uplands began to be confiderably dif treffed, and all men began to cry out for rain. Several nights' frofts, unufually fevere at fo advanced a period, conduced to check all forts of artificial vegetation.

June.-Fine moderate rain at the beginning of the month. Laft part dry and warm.

July.-Cold, comfort lefs, and wet throughout, which fell more in the fhape of mild and fet rains than of rapid and heavy torrents. Six days only in 30, Farenheit attained to 70 deg. a circumftance almost unexampled at this feafon. Neither corn nor fruit, nor any kind of vegetation, made the leaft progrefs. All things, aggregately confidered, feemed to forebode the repetition of the evils of 1800.

Auguft-Set in with a profpect no better than that which had closed the preceding month. It still rained. On Wednesday the 4th, however, it cleared about the break of day, when a new and cheerful scene fuddenly expanded to our view, which immediately difperfed a ray of gladnefs over the whole furface of our land. Dry, fine, and hot days, without any variation, came in one after another quite through the montb. The heat, however, was not exceffive, for Farenheit on a western wall never exceeded 95 deg. where not two years before it was equal 113 deg.

[ocr errors]

September. No rain, no wind, Sun

day the 12th was noted for a degree of cold which very rarely occurs between the vernal and autumnal equinox.-At feven A M. Farenheit was depreffed to 2 deg. below freezing, in the very fame place where not a week before it had been up at 95. The effects of this unparalleled feverity at fo early a period was visible on all vegetable life, more particularly on the Itanding oats, on the cole, on the turnips, and even in immured gardens on efculents of all forts.

Oftober.-Inftead of heavy rains and high winds, the ufual forerunners of winter at this feafon, we had moderate fhowers, gentle gales, and light frofts.

November.-After fuch a series of dry and fine weather, every one seemed now more than commonly imprefled with an idea that this month, generally the most gloomy in the year, mult of courfe now come forth clad in its fable mantle, and loaded with all the previous terrors of winter. Contrary to common expectation, it proved what is too recent in the minds of obferving men to repeat, and for which we cannot be too thankful to that all-powerful and good Being who, in his own due featon, covers the earth with snow, and fcattereth the hoar frost like afhes.

December-Though this lait divifion of the year has not paffed without fome greater variety in the weather, fill it has certainly been much milder, and enlivened by a greater number of clear days, than ufually occur in fuch a feafon, of which Thurfday 30th was a very cheerful inftance.

ift Of the periods alluded to above, commenced on the 21st of January, and extended to July. This in a general view, with little exception, may fairly be confidered as one feries of dry and fine weather of five months

duration.

ed, Includes the entire cold and cheerlefs month of July.

3d, Began on Wednesday, 4th of Auguft, and extended to the early morning of the 28th of December, when was a greater quantity of downfall in a given space than had happened from the 20th of the preceding January.

What effect thefe ftriking peculiarities in the year may have had already, or what they are calculated, in the courfe of God's providence, till further to produce, every confiderate perfon in the different divifions of

our

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »