THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA.

Evening Star, Issue 3820, 22 May 1875, Page 3

THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA.

When the Emperor of Russia went to Guildhall in May, in the course of his visit to this country, aa address of congratulation was presented to him by the citizens of London. Illuminated and embossed the address was always meant to be forwarded to 'vusaia, and its words were worth preserving although their alusions were con ned to two points - the union between the two connti ies, expressed by the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and the emanci atio.i of the serfs by the Czar, a measure so eouson.'.it with English sentiment. The scroll of th i address was to be sent after the Czar to St. !*> tersburg in a golden casket, and in the tition for manufacturing the casket Mr Benson, of sue ceeded. The design adopted is an oblong case of gold supported ou balls of solid malachite. The minor or imentation of the case is supplied by the heraldic insignia of England, Russia, and of the cry, but the principal artistic detail is a mini.- u r e painting representing the delivery of the address • he scene is enamelled upon a plate of gold 2Jin high by 4£in wide, which will befram -d in the obverse side of the casket, the revert c •f the casket bearing an inscriptien. Eleven fi.m i s are painted on these few square inches of surface, and the tallest figure is 1 li-16in. in height, while any of the faces can be covered with the top of a pencil. In that small space, however, the artist, a young lady named Mdlle Hebert, living at Geneva, has given a life like and effective representation of the scene at (iuildhall. On the right of the picture stands upon a dais the Emperor a lexander, in the uniform of a Ge eral of his Army, his tunic crossed by the riband of the Harter, and decked with the other Orders whieh used to glitter on his breast; on hia right hand the Duchess of Edinburgh, wearing an orange-colored dress, then our Pi iuce of Wales and the Grand Duke Mexis. On the left is the Princess of Wales, in light-blue bodice and deep-blue velvet skirt,the velvet in ihe miniature such as only this lady or Mr Millais could paint. The Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of Cambridge, in uniform and in their ; rdeis, comph-te the Royal group. The dark crimson bangings used on State occasions at the Guildhall make a good back-ground, but to the left there is a better effect in the stone flutings of the ancient hall, on which the sun, through the mullioned windows, is tracing delicate patterns in light and shad •. On this side of the picture is the group of citizens, the Lord Mayor (Sir Andrew Lusk, M,P.,) in front, and on his right the Right Hon. the Recorder (Mr Russell Gurney, Q,C , M.P.,) reading the address. Behind them stands Mr Edward Hart/ Chairman of the H eception Committee, who proposed the address in the Court of Common Counoil ; and his blue robe of a member of the Common Council contrasts effectively with the crimson robos of office of Lord M ayor, the Recorder, and the seconder of the address, Mr Alderman Besley. There are two other enamelled miniatures to be placed in smaller panels of the casket, and they represent the eastern and western ends of Guildhall. The risks to which this class of work is exposed are shown by the fact that one of these two pictures (which are being executed in England) has twice been painted and has twice been shivered to pieces in the burning. The casket cannot be finished till the pictures are all ready, but the moat important part of the work baa now been successfully accomplished.— ‘Times,’ January 8. 1875.