THE DIORAMA.
Tuts exhibition will reopen in a few days, with a eliange of the Land- scape; an Alpine scene of the village of Alagna, in Piedmont, over- whelmed by an avalanche, being substituted for the former view of the Campo Vaccine. The Interior of the Church of Santa Croce—the most perfect of these pictorial illusions—still remains. A private view of the new picture was to have taken place yesterday; but an accident prevented the exhibition of the successive effects which are necessary to the completeness of the design. It is intended to re- present the village by moonlight, the &fling of -the avalanche, and the desolation that follows. Only the last phase of the picture was shown; the spire of the church was all that remained visible of the village, and a dark stain the only trace of the mountain lake. The aspect of the scene is most impressive : the valley and the stupendous crags that bound it are covered with snow ; a solitary hut in the foreground has alone escaped destruction ; not a human being is visible ; and the stillness seems as if the breath of nature were hushed by some awful calamity.
The painting, by M. BOUTON, is marvellous : art can hardly carry the imitation of nature nearer than is done in the snow-covered cottage, the road, and the mountains around. The out-door scenes of the Diorama are generally far inferior to the interiors : but in this the subject is favourable to exact imitation ; .there being no foliage, and the coldness of the light giving a still-life appearance to local and na- tural objects. The vastness of the scene is finely conveyed : the mouns tamn-peaks stand out in solid relief from the sky, yet when viewed from a little way off they keep their altitude and distance. The tex- ture and surface of the snow, as it lies on the road, or covers the herb- age or the rock, is imitated to perfection.
When we have seen the moonlight effect, we may have occasion to bestow even more praise.
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