AMERICAN ART ABROADSource: Cosmopolitan Art Journal, Vol. 3, No. 4 (September, 1859), pp. 178-180Published by:Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/42004844 .

Accessed: 21/05/2014 23:01

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.61 on Wed, 21 May 2014 23:01:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

178 COSMOPOLITAN ART JOURNAL.

during his residence in Baltimore, many eminent men, among whom may be named, P. M. General Brown, Gov. Floyd, Judge Butler, Edwin Forrest, Gov. Hicks, Col. J. M. Turner, Wm. E. Bartlett, Jr., &c, &c, But these must now be regarded as Mr. Johnston's minor laurels. In com- position and creative art he promises unusual excellence. Among the works of his hands most mentionable is a series of paintings representing "Progress," painted for Wm. McDonald, Esq., of Baltimore. The papers of that city are loud in their praises of these works, and lead us to hope for fine things from the artist. Our paragraphist thus remarks upon the paintings : " The first three of the series are com- posed of studies from western scenery. One presents a view of a wild glen, with untutored savages in the foreground and iC la belle rivere" the Ohio, with its sloping banks and leafy islets in the distance. Another shows the emigrant, en route for the wide prairies of the West, which form the background of the picture, and the third is a scene of agricultural life. The fourth of the series represents " Civ- ilization ;'; a vast city, with its domes and steeples, its courts and churches, and the steamboats and the white sails of com- merce are seen in the distance, while the railroad, the canal, and the telegraph, are aptly introduced in the foreground. These pictures are admirably executed. They evince the superior skill and genius of the artist, and entitle him to a place in the front rank of his profession. Col. J. has succeeded in transferring upon the can- vas, in four brief but comprehensive volumes, the whole history of the prog- ress of the civilization of our country. They are honorable to the artist and re- flect renown to the city itself."

As Mr. J. is now in the prime of life, we have good reason to count upon future successes which will give him a most honorable position in our world of Ameri- can art. He is a devoted student of Nature - making her his teacher. He possesses, in a full degree, those poetic intuitions which give the outward form its spiritual expression - hence his prom- ise is unusually fair. Let him not be won from a student's devotion to art and his triumph is sure.

Mr. J. contributes one of his best works to the collection of paintings for distribu- tion among subscribers of the Cosmopoli- tan Art Association for this year.

AMEKICAN ART ABE(TAD.

reception given by the Eu- ropean Art-public, to Buchanan Read's pictures ; to the marbles

'nyc p of Powers, Crawford, Ives, and

(tj^p Miss Hosmer ; to the u Niaga- ^9 ra," of Church ; the pictures of

exhibitors at the Academy of Fine Arts, at Paris, noticed in our last ; and, still later, the recognition given to Church's "Heart of the Andes," and to RothermePs works, all prove that American Art has, at length gained a status and place among the " schools " of the present century. If any had been disposed to question the right of our art- ists to the claim of a successful native art-expression, the recent hearty recogni- tion, by European critics, of the works above referred to, must dispel any fur- ther doubt, and convince our people - ever comparatively slow in conceding merit to their own fellow-citizens - that the genius of this country is as strong in the field of art as in the more strictly commercial and scientific walks.

We have, from time to time, recurred to this gradual development of our art- mind, and have sought to point out those instances of success which seemed to con- firm the claim of American painters and sculptors to a distinctive and command- ing position in their departments of labor. In our notices of Crawford, Powers, Bartholomew and Palmer, of the Hart brothers, Buchanan Read, Sonntag, Tait; Mrs. Spencer, Bellows, Cheney, &c, &c, we have adverted to this successful na- tive expression, and shall continue the record, in future, - choosing such as seem to us to contribute to the formation and the establishment of a national " school " of art.

In the meanwhile we shall advise our readers of the European view of our art- progress. It gives us pleasure to find, in this foreign expression, much to confirm our own impressions, not only of indi- vidual artists from our midst, but also of their comparative position in the world of art. Let us instance Mr. Church, his "Niagara," and "heart of the Andes." In our last, we assumed the position that the latter work was one of the best land- scapes painted by any master, living or dead - an opinion which, though it may have seemed simply extravagant, is re- ceiving confirmation in the most eminent

quarters. We may quote from the Lon- don Daily News, of July 4th : -

11 One of the most remarkable pictures exhibited this season is now on view at the German Gallery, New Bond-street. The artist - Mr. Church, the American - has already established a high reputation in this country by his extraordinary painting of the Falls of Niagara. Never before had the majesty of that scene, with all its infinite variety of toiling, foaming, eddying, glancing, crashing, broken wa- ter-surface, been so impressively presented to the eye. Other representations may have been good for recollection, but the suggest iven ess of that alone enabled those who had not seen the great Falls to form some idea of the gloriously terrible reali- ty. The present picture is a worthy companion to the last. Mr. Church seems to have proposed to realize the climax and acme of all that is grandest and most epical in his own great twin continent. Here we have a pictorial poem upon the immovable mountain-majesty of the great South American Cordilleras; before we had the most stupendous leap and plunge of the great rolling North American flood. The "Heart of the Andes" is a scene hitherto unexplored by the painter ; but Humboldt, with truth, observed that in no other section of the globe, not excepting the Alps and the Himalayas, could the landscape painter acquire such an extent and variety of knowledge suited to his purposes, and receive such inspiration and impulse. Our own landscape painters, even after their visit to Snowdon, might well sigh for such a new world as this to conquer. On the other hand, Mr. Church, our American cousin - or rather let us say brother - has little or nothing to learn from the experience of the oldest European school or master. Yet, mar- vellous as are the skilful composition and comprehensive knowledge here displayed, Mr. Church has never studied in the most conventional sense of the word j he has never visited the great galleries of art out of America. But he has done better ; he has devoted several years to the study at first hand of the noble coast and moun- tain scenery of his native land. This was the training he had received before he resolved to open up for himself a field entirely new to all modern artists of note and ability. Original and elevated, how- ever, as was his theme, he brought to it powers and capacity fully commensurate. The pre-Raphaelite minuteness and self-

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.61 on Wed, 21 May 2014 23:01:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

COSMOPOLITAN ART JOURNAL. 179

evident accuracy of the foreground, and the broadly generalized, delicately grad- uated, and atmospheric distance of this picture, prove that the artist unites al- most a contrariety of gifts. Breadth and finish are almost perfectly harmon- ized. The only obvious fault of the pic- ture proves, indeed, the artist loves nature, not, perhaps, altogether "wisely, but too well. Some of the foreground foliage, for example, is focused in a kind of burn- ing-glass intensity of sunlight, in order to more forcibly 1 pick out ; certain beau- tiful points of detail. It may be pleaded that this gives, by contrast, greater value to the softness of distance, and affords a key to the whole picture. But an artist should avoid every appearance of a trick, and the old, hackneyed maxim, that the perfection of art is to conceal itself, can never, after all, be too often repeated. It occurred to us, also, that the smooth surface and glassy reflections of the river are scarcely natural, so immediately be- neath a water-fall, though making every allowance for its swiftly gliding to an- other fall. But where there is such wonderfully varied merit, and many landscape excellences of the highest order, it is almost hypercritical to make any exception whatever. We would gladly attempt to convey some general idea of this truly great picture, but that our space would not permit us to sketch over so imperfectly all the richness here ac- cumulated, as it were, from every zone and climate; all the luxuriance of tropi- cal vegetation, of impenetrable sloping silvas, and interminable table-land, and of great Andean, snow-crested mountains, whose ranges almost bisect the earth, and from whose sides gush efcreams whose course is measured by the breadth of continents. In such a scene as this, Man, with his little red-roofed speck of distant hut, and even at his wayside worship before the crucifix, dwindles into pigmy insignificance. Over all this panorama of power, and majesty, and beauty, there mantles, however, only a sentiment of repose, calculated to awaken a still, deep feeling of veneration. Turner himself, in wildest imagination, never painted a scene of greater magnificence than this view, which wears all the impress of nature's own unrivalled reality. We can only sum up that we recommend all who have any love of either nature or art to take an early opportunity of seeing a work which is in every way a triumph."

The reader will not fail to see here expressed, in an enthusiastic and dis- criminating manner, all that we claimed

! for the work, and the position which it . must give the painter among the most eminent of his profession. Now that the English public has pronounced the favora- ble judgment, we suppose the doubters, and fault-finding critics (?) on this side of the water, will give in that America has one, at least, truly American painter; for, as the News says, Mr. Church has ! never studied abroad, and has learned his all in our forests and fields, catching their grandeur and inspiration.

Another artist has met with a recent and very flattering recognition abroad, namely : Mr. P. F. Rothermel, of Phila- delphia. A correspondent of the New- York Daily Times, from Paris, under date of July 21st, writes :

"The exhibition of paintings in the Palais de l'Industrie, closed on Sunday last, on which day over 60,000 persons visited the galleries. The next day the distribution of prizes took place, and I am happy to state that an American artist received from the French jury an honorable mention. Mr. P. F. Rothermel, of Philadelphia, the person I refer to, only arrived in Paris some six weeks before the opening of the Exhibition, and was obliged to send in his paintings un- finished. But even then, the force of the drawing and coloring was so conspicuous as to merit a special mention from those appointed by the state to award the prizes to the artists judged the most meritorious. Count Nieunerkerke, the Director of the Fine Arts, said, in the discourse he made to the assembly, that an honorable mention was equivalent to a medal ; that those mentioned did not get medals, owing to the limited number; but that the Jury felt in honor bound to notice such artists as received the mention. Mr. RothermePs works have been duly noticed by the Paris as well as some of the London critics, and all agree in prais- ing the artists unusual strength and har- j mony of color. Americans here rejoice in the well-deserved triumph of their countrymen, and look forward with pleas- ant anticipation to the next Exhibition, on which occasion this artist is to expose a grand tableaux. Mr. Rothermel sailed yesterday in the Occan Queen , from Havre, for the United States. He takes with him the tableaux that attracted so much attention in this city. I am assured that

several offers were made for these paint- ings, by our connoisseurs here, but they were no longer the property of the artist, having been painted to order. Mr. E. H. May also exhibited some fine paintings, which were well spoken of by the Paris critics. This gentleman received a medal at a previous Exhibition, and was pro- posed this year for what is styled a recall of a medal, but owing to the great number of persons to be mentioned and the fact that another American artist was promi- nently noticed, Mr. May did not receive the honor he so well deserved. All per- sons here agree in praising the works of Mr. Rothermel, and American art has received many compliments through him."

Another work is attracting considera- ble attention, namely: "Venus Guiding .¿Eneas and the Trojans to the Latin Shore," by Mr. Page. We have these notices from the London press. The Builder says : " This is the title of a noticeable picture now in London, by Mr. Page, an Ameri- can painter, who has been residing some years in Rome. Mr. Page treated the subject after the traditions of Virgil and other classic poets, introducing as many of the attributes of Venus as he was historically warranted in doing, on the authority of the best poets. Venus was the mother patroness of Italy, as well as the goddess of beauty and love, hence this picture might almost be called the Discovery of Italy . She was born of the foam of the sea, and poets all unite in representing the sea, as well as the air. as perfectly calm in her presence. Though she lent her vesture to Juno, she never parted with the bright pearl which Vul- can gave her. The artist uses this, and has not forgotten the tradition of her golden hair and light blue eyes. The goddess is represented as of life size, stand- ing or sailing in a shell drawn by her doves and propelled by two wingless cupids, with the galleys of .¿Eneas follow- ing in the distance. She is seen near at hand. As the sea and the sky are as serene and still as when Agamemnon sighed for Iphigenia in Aulis, the artist has ingeniously contrived to give con- siderable action to the figure by balancing her in an enormous shell, which is just being turned toward the land (Italy) on her right by the touch of one of the cupids on the opposite side. Mr. Page has shown some boldness in departing from

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.61 on Wed, 21 May 2014 23:01:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

180 COSMOPOLITAN ART JOURNAL.

the beaten track, and encountering the difficulties of action. The famous Venus of Titian, in the palace Uffiggi in Florence, as well as almost all other pictures, represent the goddess in repose, or nearly so. In a word, the artist has aimed at originality and high art, and has pro- duced a work of art of no ordinary character."

Of the same picture the Athenaum, which, it should be remembered, grudges praise to anything American, thus re- marks :

" His Venus has the haughty and tri- umphant beauty of her whose fascinations could bring the sword and firebrand among men, as well as gentler sensations, and excitements not less potent, but less fierce. Her bust, arms, and lower limbs, are well modelled, with, perhaps, a trifle too much anxiety as to exactness of ar- ticulation. A nude figure, however, ought not to suggest the fancy of any past con- straint or compression. Mr. Page's Venus hardly escapes this charge. His coloring, with a certain tendency toward sombre-richness (such as time has brought over the carnations of Giorgione and Palma). is solid, attractive, and harmo- nious. The picture, in short, is a fine one ; in no respect to be made light of - one which, whether it be taken for better or for worse, with agreement or with dis- agreement, cannot be looked at without interesting suggestion and remembrance being excited - which cannot be recol- lected without sincere respect for the as- piration and the performance of him who has painted it.;;

Did space allow we should be pleased to refer to the light in which the works of Miss Hosmer are viewed by the Eng- lish and Italian public. She has no real recognition in America, as yet; while abroad, she is regarded as one of the most promising of living sculptors. [In our December issue we shall give a sketch of the lady and her labors, that our readers, at least, may be apprized of her merit and do the simple justice of conceding her a favorable place among their most worthy countrymen and women.]

The Velasquez. - The Lost Portrait of Charles the First, which for seven years has created such & furore in the English and Scotch circles of art and literature, is now on exhibition at Saratoga, and we understand will thence be removed to Boston

FOREIGN ART ITEMS.

" original of Power's c Greek Slave ? has been sold, in London, to the Duke of Cleveland, for 1,800 guineas [$9,000]." [By this

j item the reader would infer that the « Slaves" in this country

are not originals. The facts are these : Mr. Powers has sculptured four " Greek Slaves" after his first model - the one referred to as having sold for $ 9,000, the one lately distributed by the Cosmopoli- tan Art Association, and now in possession of A. T, Stewart, Esq., of New-York city, one in possession of Mr. Robb, of New- Orleans, and one in possession of Mr. Corcoran, of Washington. All are origi- nals, and all equal in value to the Eng- lish statue referred to.1 - Ed.]

On the 20th of June, Hans Michelsen, the oldest and most eminent of the sculp- tors of Norway, died at Christiana, at the age of seventy. When Thorwaldsen had presented the Cathedral of Drontheim with a cast of his statue of Christ, Michel- sen was ordered by King Karl Johann to execute statues of the Twelve Apostles for the same church. This was the most important work of his life. Afterward, by order of King Oscar, he executed four old Norwegian kings for Oscar Hall, besides busts of Holberg, Peter Colbjorn- sen, and others. Michelsen was a man of considerable talent, but his artistic education and development began at too late a period of his life, and he was re- called from Rome too early. In his old age he lived in retirement, being, although of a humorous turn, not easily accessible.

Don Jose de Madrazo, the painter, who recently died at Madrid,, has left a mag- nificent collection of pictures of all schools, seven hundred in number, and a large collection of original drawings, many of them very old and curious. These collec- tions are the result of sixty years' study and labor ; and their value is enhanced by a most carefully prepared catalogue. The house in which the artist lived is a complete museum.

The statue of Handel, which has been erected at Halle, the native city of the great composer, was uncovered on July 1. It is in bronze and ten feet in height, and stands on a pedestal of marble, raised upon granite steps. The great composer is represented in the costume of his time, leaning on a music desk, on which lies the

score of The Messiah. In his right hand he holds a roll of music. In front of the pedestal is inscribed, in characters Of gold, the name of " Handel." On the opposite side are the words, u Erected by his admirers in Germany and England in the year 1859." On one side of the pedestal there is a wreath of Oak, and on the other a wreath of laurel, in gilt bronze. A bronze statue of Handel has also been erected at Berlin.

A statue of Jenner, cast in bronze, has been set up temporarily opposite the river front of the Louvre, Paris.

Mr. Jacob Bell, says the London Athe- nceum, with a princely generosity, and ab- sence of parade, which is more than princely, has left fourteen pictures to the country. The gift includes all the best works in his collection : - Rosa Bonheur's « Horse Fair;" Frith's " Derby Day;" Ward's " James II. listening to the News of William's Landing at Torbay;" Sir Edwin Landseer's " The Maid and Mag- pie ;" " Shoeing ;" " Dignity and Impu- dence ;" « Defeat of Comus ;" " The Sleep- ing Bloodhound ;" and u Alexander and Diogenes;" O'Neil's "Foundling;" two landscapes by Lee and Cope ; and Charles Landseer's "Sacking of a Jew's House." The fourteenth picture is not yet painted. It is a commission to Frank Stone. These works will form a most important and welcome addition to the collection of the English School.

Three additional rooms have just been opened to the public in the Louvre. They contain about two hundred and sixty pic- tures of the German and Italian schools, and among them the copy of the u Last Supper," supposed to have been made by Leonardo da Vinci's pupils under his superintendence.

At a collection of English modern pic- tures sold recently in London, the sale realized £4,000 (say $20,000). The fol- lowing are a few of the pictures sold, with the prices: il A Summer's After- noon," T. S. Cooper, £236 5s.; "The Sanctuary," E. M. Ward, £242 11s.; u A Landscape," P. Naysmith, £267 15s. ; "A Rustic Home," W. Miiller, £315; « Seashore," W. Collins, £220 10s. ; « The Waterfall," P. Naysmith, £320 5s. ; " The High Altar," D. Roberts, £367 10s. ; « Cranmer led to the Tower," F. Goodall, £388 10s. These figures will serve to show our readers what value attaches to good paintings, in the greatest art-market in the world.

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.61 on Wed, 21 May 2014 23:01:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions