FRENCH ART AND GERMAN ART.
It is a very hopeful feature of the time that we are beginning to take systematic steps for the cultivation of a knowledge of foreign art. Nothing could do our painters greater good than to learn thoroughly the lesson which the French are able to teach them. Good drawing, and consideration for the general appointments and couleur locale, of their scenes are nationalized among the French ; not the attributes of the superior men only, but the general stock in trade with which the body, as a body, furnish themselves before starting in business. Combined with and mainly resulting from this is what we call style, for want of a better term,—in the sense not of the manner which grows upon each painter individually and distinguishes him from his fellows, but of that workmanlike or artistlike competence, sureness, and savoir faire, which are common to the great majority. There is no fear that the Eng- lish painter should, through foreign study, cease to be an Englishman, or lose the excellences which he legitimately boasts as such : nothing short of downright perversity could make him derive aught but good from con- tact with the Frenchman.
Last year was the first of a German exhibition opened apparently as a trade-speculation : this is the first of a French exhibition, opened at No. 121 Pall Mall, and promoted by Messrs. Modiste, Stanfield, and others. The collection, 135 in number, is certainly a good one ; containing se- veral excellent works, many distinguished for varying graces of style, and not many of a clearly inferior cast. Here is that small but noble Delaroche, "The Death of the Due de Guise in the Chateau de Blois," together with an exquisite copy, by his own hand, of his series of " The Artists of the Revival" from the fresco in the Ecole des Beaux Arts ; one of the most unimpeachable and flawless works of art in the world. Scheffer sends a duplicate of his " Francesca di Rimini," which he is said to pronounce superior to the original. It has been purchased by the Earl of Ellesmere for 1200 guineas, and is worth it. We consider that this work goes as far as the knowledge of what is right—knowledge crystal-clear and unsullied by error—will carry a man, without that in- tense instinctive perception of the right which is termed genius. Thus, we regard M. Scheffer as a most consummate artist, separated, yet only just separated, from the absolutely great. Four other works by the same painter, of unequal merit, appear on the walls. That wonderful lady Mademoiselle Rosa Bonheur sends three of her lovely and new bits of nature ; flanked by her justly emulous brother and sister, Auguste and Juliette. Vernet has one, clever, but not extraordinary ; Delacroix two, unworthy, even as sketches, of his magnificent but capricious power. Among many others deserving of detailed notice, we must find a word for three little things by Plassan, the perfection of a mignon style of which we have scarcely an idea in England.
The German collection, visible at 168 New Bond Street, resembles its predecessor of last year ; which is as much as to say that it falls con- siderably short of the French both for interest, positive merit, and relative sufficiency as a representation of the school. We need not repeat the opinion which we expressed on the former occasion, and which is here confirmed. The exhibition, with all its drawbacks, has a value : curiosity will not be unrepaid for a visit, and the student may gain a lesson of something to avoid and a little to profit by. The best landscape—and one with much that is really fine—is " From Lariccia," by Achenbach ; the nexebest, an evening subject by Leu ; the best of those pictures which deal chiefly with human interest, "A Village Scene in the Black Forest," by Bottcher, containing a good deal of simple earnest expression.
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