ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 88

ART AND ARTISTS.

IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. By Wilhelmixa Shehhiff Bain. The first object to corn-man d t.he gaae i a bronze gioup — "Blood Mare and Foal,' by Le Due. Of life eize and life fidelity, th mare turns her .proud, delicate head — ear flattened backward, nostrils dilated — in th direction of intrusion, while the foal stand at attention, fearless, yet very close- to hi mother in case of contingencies. An; animal lover lingers perforce by this work so natural it is and co spirited. Then be gins the survey of the walls. A large and crowded canvas by Mado: Brown represents Chauoer relating a Can terbury tale in the Court of Edward 111 The old King sits with an arrogant-looking Alice Perrers on his right, and the Fail Maid of Kent, partially supporting th< emaciated Black Prince, on his left. Cour - tiers, clowns, cardinals, and fine ladies giv< more or less heed io the father of Englisl poetry; a troubadour seems rapt in rever ent awe; baby Richard hears with, wide eyed wonder how "hue litel child laj weeping on hire arme." Portraiture a<ldi interest to this picture. The troubadour a William Mic-hae) Roasetti, an<} Chaucer him self is the artist's life-long friend, Gabriei Dante Rossetti. Bourdillon's picture of the duel scene ir • ( Westward, Ho ! " represents Sir Richard Grenville at his moment of warning : "1] you etir, Mr Cary, you have to do with -Richard Grenville '"—a sufficing intimation from the man who fought the whole Spanish fleet with one ship, the Revengetrie most redoubtable exploit in the annals of th<» British navy. This depiction of four Elizabethan gentlemen, tall and sinewy, skilful of fence, and most picturesquely at tired, is wonderfully clever. " Renouncing the Vanities." by Topham, represents a great procession toward tile bonfire which is consuming all " the vain ■ and unnoly things " : the books, pictures, busts, jewels renounced in the revival of 1+97. Not Savonarola adjuring the masses, but a fierce truculent monk, laden with j precious but pagan manuscripts, is the central figure here, denouncing "as he does the , pretty young matron who clings to her j earrings, «nd the laughing cavalier who shields her contumacy. j Chevalier's "Race to Market" givos a j lovely glimpse of Tahiti. The mother and sor in one boat may reach their goal a i minute before the lovers in the other, but • that will be owing to innocent collusion — collusion unshared by the doggie and the piggie respectively. How exquisitely painted .he coral and shells around the J flashing-eyed girl in heliotrope " ahu " and | garlanded hair, how good humoured the ; apparent rivalry between the two young men, how intense the older woman's concern lest her rooster shall escape from the chicken crate, and how provokingly real the oranges, bananas, and pineapples ! The "Esther" of Jean Portaels is more 6elf-conscious than the exquisite Esther in the Melbourne Gallery. Beautiful and regal, she stands ia brilliant contrast to the shadowy drooping Mordeeai, but she does not touch tho heart as does the young tender being who says, "If I perish, I perish!' A cottage interior by Gaston la Touch© attracts much sympathetic observation. The rough joists, the brick floor built high at the many-paned window, the friendly villager, the peasant sitting on an upturned box gazing in agonised suspense ufc the -sweet face whose shrouded eyes may never awaken to the joys of motherhood, the yet empty cradle, these and other -details axe most i repressive in their realism and their simple purity. "Tlk» Anatomy Class "—a masterpiece of F. Salle — is always admired. The stalwart subject of exposition ;s; s n:or© statuesque. j thai) the extremely animated marble in another part of the lecture hall ; but he has living muscles, and these arc being located by a. professor who is manifestly onthuI fciastie and sufficiently capable to win the comprehension of his large class of students. _ • | Evariste-Viral Luminais presents a t«r- j rible study of paternal wrath in " The Sons of Clovis." The two young men are laid upon a barge— helpless, because the sinews of their feet have .been cut and seared— to float as the Seine wills. A miniature chapel containing a Madonna and Child i 9i 9 suspended from the stem of the boat in derision, or in the sincerity c-{ that piety which has sanctioned the most demoniac atrocities. But its highest meaning will appeal to the monks of Jumieges, , who will release the tortured revolters and '. cave for them until they shall be liberated ' from all agonies of the flesh. Of the other pictures in. this roomtrivial, charming, or tragic — "'The Scoffers," by Frank Brangwyn, usually at- ' tracts most attention. Bound by the elbows and by the wrists to the post behind him, Admiral Guarinos endures the ] brutal pleasantries of a Moorish rabble. What awfui doom was his: a gaol of inconceivable horror, an<l open air threu times a year to make a Moorish holiday ! In tho next room are lo\ely landscape*, ' graceful 6ylphs. and some work* of tremendous^ power. "The Ambu-'.ade "'— a voik of "S erker Hamilton — thrill? with tho vrn•uupecnngiHN^ of a Highland regiment which is rounding the facs 5 of a Ternlio pic-cipice. .-ill u:iawatf of the Afghan.- flar on hi'.'hor ledger ieadj with !o\e!led rifles — ready : Ar-d there is Diofrero- in J.;« tub. -with wheat ears and come c<liblc ioot-5 eonve , niently placed. c>:id his lantoru at hand: ' scorning to iiotic? tho j^retty curiosity of the maidens <kof -p nding i)v> rn.nblc .<-*tair- > case. He seems to bo looking forth upen the next picture — "The Battalion" — a conglomeration of human butchery Diogenes gazing on modern warfare I Margetson'e loveiy " The St>a Hath Its Pearls "—the girl delightfully tall and fair, ! who stoops to admire the treasure s-lie has : picked up from the drift weed — hangs opposite the picture of another woman. She, too, ie beautiful, but she is very poorly ; clad. She carries her infant boy adown $n English lane, an older boy and a mongrel dogs follow her; then comes the husband And father guiding the donkey and the fcorse which draw the gipsy cart: 4< Their ever-Bhifting home." One splendid room is graced by LongetafFs portraits of the King and Queen in their Coronation robes. These paintings are,- of course, eumptuous, and King Edward looks pleasant aid Queen AlexailfLra looks beautiiul, at jh?y alwavt *Jo.

' Between the " Wedded " of Lord Leightoa and "The Captive" of Millais— gems endeared to us all by many a reprint— hangs the picture which attracts more observation thar any other in the gallery : '* The Defence of Rorke's Drift," by De Neuville. ' One hundred British attacked by 4000 Zulus ! The Zulus have their aes-ega'm and i their firebrands — they swarm up the banis cade, thrusting at any defender who at- ' tempts to aim at them ; one succeeds -in » firing the thatch of the hospital before he 3 is clubbed down, but the flame leaps high, 3 and speedily must the 35 wounded be borne 5 through the little window to the mealie 5 bags and biscuit boxes which form the , inner fortifications. Only two .Zulus have gained the summit, and there they lie, faoe [ to the foe. Quite near io the brave Dalton, who organised the defence, and who strove c Jifce a tiger until he was vncapacitateJ. . There he ieolines, right arm rent almost quite away from, the poor gaping body, P tended by the surgeon, skilful as valorous, '. tender as heroic, who works incessantly all ( through those awful hours. The doctor's . terrier seems imbued with his master's , spirit; close he stays, fearlessly intelligent, I whatever betide. And towering above the surgeon's Scottish cap is the white-hel- . metted figure of Vicar Smith, serving out . cartridges and checking profanity, as he i did throughout that terrible night. The i leaders here are truly portrayed, as are . the, buildings and the surrounding seene — from life — from photographs — and from other study. Queen "Victoria commissioned Mrs Butler to depict the subject, and her | canvas and de Neuville's were adjudged ' by connoieeuns to excel each the other in i certain details, this painting being considered, on the whole, the finer of the two. New South Wales bought it for £2000. i "The Widower," by Sir Luke Fildes, is a most affecting study. Five children have • been bereaved: the baby creeping after his ! ball on the floor, the tiny girl and boy < helping themselves and their little dog to I supper, the eldest girl gazing with sad J comprehension on the sister — dying, too surely, in the arms of " The Widower." j His face, his attitude bespeak Geth- ' semane. The. barbaric splendour of Poynter •» "Visit of the Queen of Sheba Fo King Solomon " is subdued by the human interest of iie storyl From the waiet upward ? the Queen ie attired in jewels only, but her eyes are downcast, and her exquisite j face is sweet as it is proud. King Solomon advances to greet her, stately but benignant, while the musicians strike their dulcimers, and the ladies of the Cour: Jook a thousand things. I On an opposite \.all hangs the strangelydifferent study by Seymour Lucas: "The Armada in Sight." The seagulls are winging inland with their message, the beacon fire is lighted, Raleigh and other noble personages group in grave alertness, yet Sir Francis Drake seems intent on bowls alone. He knows his bowls and he knows his Dons. Lingering" by many a wonder of beauty we come at last to Briton Riviere's eloj quence of silent grief: "Requiescat." ' Helmetted and clad in coat of mail, the warrior's mortal coil rests on its bier. A wreath of remembrance lies on the breast, but living love is 'nearer yet, for a great mastiff, leaning its head against the outlaid hand, gazes upon that white, still j face — gazes and mourns. _ The picture • might have been named " Death and Life," j so manifestly has the spirit for ever fled from tKat recumbent form, so surely is j there spirit glowing in those canine eyes. I The tawny coat, the blue embroidered ' drapery, the white rigidity, and the steel . encasement constitute a triumph of colour subsidiary only to the expression in the gaze of that dog. A facsimile of the Bayeux tapestry makes a kind Of friez« in on-e of th-e halls, of statuary. It is 214 ft long by 20in wide, representing in coloured embroidery the invasion ac<! conquest of England by the Normans. Perhaps some day the authorities wifl construe beneath each of its nine frames the specific- mearing of all those quaintly impossible figures so diligently stitched by Queen Matilda and her patient ladies. No interpretation is needed! for the marblo illustration of *' The Song . of the Shirt," so exhausted the seamstress sits in her poor gown and her frayed 6hawl, with fingers too weary to fold the shirt that at last she has finished. The Norman dames and damosels tired their pretty fingers in sewing with love and pride and piety their record of doughty deeds, but the Church blessed their endeavour, and history glorifies it. Eight hundred years later thousands of Englishwomen, sewing to earn the means of Hv ; iig, stitched their vei-y lives away. Thomas Hood stirred the nation when he sang '' The Song oi the Shirt," and vastly improved conditions were promised when the sewing machine came in. Yet we have sweating commissions which reveal that h-ei'e in Now Zealand women are paid 2£c! foi- making a bhirt blouse, and for other articles at pioportionate rates. " And thr-> is Christian work f " A replica of the beautiful marble which illustrates Hood't- immortal poem might well be placed in every shirt and underclothing factory of the Dominion. Many other goms of sculpture fchore are in the Svrln^y hall^. It m<i\ l>e that a •-woolly i>ensi\o "Highland Mary"' v. ill prov»» the final attraction, for," ha\ing looked on her, it become-, n»ces-ary to foek tl)» open, arid delight once more in the noblo adornment of ih<j a\enuc of ; approach: ihc splendidly wilt statue of Robert Burns. MR SHAKES' EXPERIENCE. Fcr over thiity year? Mi Jamc« Shakes has been a resident of WMhrpton. His bhop ' in Manners sircet is well known, and his experience will he interesting to many jr sufferer from Rheumatism. Gout, Sciatica, Lumbago, Rheumatic Coul, Stone, Gia\el,' and kindred di«eases. He writes"Duvinq a severe attack of Rheumatic Gout, I tried RHEUMO. All pains left r.ie in twenty minutes after the first dose, and by the following morning all »wellinK had disappeared. Hearing that a friend of mino was suffering from Rheumatic Gout. I went up to his place with a bottle of RHEUMO, and the result was. as in my ca^e. a euro. I can honestly recommend RHEUMO to sufferers from Rheumatic Gout;- as a cuie it is a certainty." Perhaps you have found that other socalled remedies, liniments, embrocations, plasters, or pills — oould not cure your Rheumatism or Gout. They did net give 7cHef. for they could not touch the real cau=e of the suffering — excess uric acid in the blood. RHEUMO is the one medicine that a lw. •>>•-, brines relief. Ail chemists aud btcies at 2s 61 aud is 6d.