The Galleries of the Exposition | Page 6

which after completion in the studio is
fastened to the wall. Above the Luini hangs a very Byzantine looking
Timoteo Viti "Madonna" of interesting colour and good design, but
with a Christ child of very doubtful anatomy, and also two old
sixteenth century Dutch pictures - a Jan Steen and a Teniers. I have my
doubts as to the authenticity of the last two pictures. They are both
interesting as disclosing the fondness of the Dutch painters of the

sixteenth century for over-naturalistic subjects.
On wall B two pictures, without author or title, appeal to one's
imagination. They are both well painted and rich in colour. A certain
big decorative quality puts them far above their neighbor - a Dutch
canvas of bad composition with no redeeming features other than
historical interest. Jacopo da Ponte's big "Lazarus" has a certain noble
dignity. Though it is rather black in shadows, it is not devoid of colour
feeling. On either side are two old Spanish portraits of children of
royalty. They impress by their very fine decorative note, charmingly
enhanced by the wonderful frames. Another Ribera, as forceful as the
one mentioned before, easily stands out among the many pictures in
this gallery, most of which are only of historical interest. The whole
aspect of this little gallery is one of extreme remoteness from modern
thought and idea, but as an object lesson of certain older periods it is
invaluable.
Gallery 92.
Chronologically a typical old Charles Le Brun presides over a very
interesting lot of pictures, mostly French. This academic canvas, of
Darius' family at the feet of Alexander, has not the simplicity and
decorative quality of the Italian pictures of that period, and it is entirely
too complex to be enjoyable. The beautiful Courbet on the left, while
suggestive of Ribera in its severe disposal of light and shadow, has also
a quality of its own, a wonderful mellowness which gives it a unity of
expression lacking in its turbulent neighbor on the right.
Among the other bigger pictures in this small gallery, a very poetic
Cazin, "The Repentance of Simon Peter," commands attention by a
certain outdoor quality which faintly suggests the Barbizon school. One
does not know what to admire most in this fine canvas. As a figural
picture it is intensely beautiful, and merely as a landscape it is of
convincing charm. It is to my mind one of the finest paintings in the
exhibition, and a constant source of great pleasure.
The big Tissot offers few excuses for having been painted at all. It is
nothing but a big illustration - all it tells could have been said on a very
small canvas. There is no real painting in it, nor composition - nothing
else, for that matter. The two Monticellis on the same wall make up for
the Tissot. Rich in colour and design, the one to the left is particularly
fine. The Van Marcke on the same wall is typical of this painter's

methods, but does not disclose his talent for very interesting pictorial
compositions, for which he was known.
On the opposite wall an older Israels gives lone a good idea of the
earlier period of this great Dutch painter, justly counted as one of the
great figures of the second half of the last century. While of recent date,
his art belongs to the older school - without attaching any odium to that
classification. The Barbizon school, the most important of the last
century, is very fitly represented by two charming and most delicate
Corots on either side of the Israels. The one to the right is particularly
tender and poetic. While by no means an attempt at a naturalistic
impressionistic interpretation of nature, like a modern Metcalf, for
instance, their suggestive power is so great as to overcome a certain
lack of colour by the convincingness of the mood represented.
Daubigny and Rousseau, of that great company of the school of 1825,
are merely suggested in two small and very conscientious studies.
Gallery 62.
This will always be remembered as the gallery of the "Green Madonna".
Whatever caused this "Green Madonna" to be honored by a Grand Prix
at Paris will always remain one of those mysteries with which the
world is laden. Of all disagreeable colour schemes, it is certainly one of
the least appealing ever put upon a canvas. It is hardly a scheme at all,
since I do not believe the juxtaposition of so many different slimy
greens, nowhere properly relieved nor accentuated by a complementary
red, can ever be called a scheme. Technically speaking, the canvas is
well painted, but it is hardly worthy of the attention its size and subject
win. Dagnan-Bouveret has rendered good service as a teacher and also
as a painter of animal life, but