Studio: international art (32.1904)

The Socidte Nationale cies Beaux-Arts

bad come to Antwerp on purpose, was, besides
M. Kohler, the printer for the journalist, the
only witness examined, and he gave in French
with amusing coolness and fluency his account
of the matter. There was an amusing dialogue
before the administration of the customary oaths.

" What religion do you profess, Mr. Whistler?"
asked the presiding judge.

Mr. Whistler was silent, and seemed to hesitate.
He did not expect this question, any more than the
indiscreet inquiry as to his age—a question he always
refused to answer.

"You are, perhaps, a Protestant?" pursued the
judge, to relieve the situation.

Mr. Whistler's answer was a shrug—a delightful
shrug—which plainly said, "Well, yes, if you choose.
I do not care, you know! It is for you to
say."

After the printer's deposition, which con-
firmed Mr. Whistler's story in every particular,
Mr. Maeterlinck had only to apply for a
decision in accordance with the law for the
protection of literary property. But, as an
advocate of talent and taste, he would not
restrict himself to so easy a task. In an in
teresting speech he dwelt on Mr. Whistler's
position as an artist, and compared his warfare
against the critics with a famous polemical
battle waged, in his day, by Paul Louis
Courrier ; and he pointed out the importance
of this trial, and the service done by the
magistracy of Antwerp to the cause of litera-
ture and art by aiding in the repression of
an act of piracy committed within the limits
of its jurisdiction.

The judgment pronounced, October 26th,
1891—M. Charles Moureau presiding—con-
demned the journalist to a fine of 500 francs
(£2°)> and an indemnity of 3,000 (^120)
to be paid to Mr. Whistler with costs, or
three years' imprisonment in default of
payment.

Mr. Whistler had, at any rate, the satisfac-
tion of printing in the original edition of
his book (published by Heine mann) the
ironical reflection : that it was some comfort
to know that the illicit work of a pirate
was left to rot in the cellars of a foreign
law-court.*

Octave Maus.

* [An " unauthorised" [version of the book was actually
published in America in 1890. The preface contained the
following passage: "I commend the book to Mr. Whistler's
enemies, with the soothing assurance, that should each of
them purchase a copy the edition will be exhausted in a week."—
Ed. The Studio.]

T2

THE SALON OF THE SOCIETE
NATIONALE DES BEAUX-
ARTS. BY HENRI FRANTZ.

In accordance with the usual plan, no attempt
will be made in this brief article to speak of all the
pictures exhibited at the Salon of the Societe
Nationale, for to do so would be to produce a
mere uninteresting catalogue; but we will en-
deavour to select for detailed appreciation a few
of the really remarkable canvases, or, at least,
those which strike us as being so, and likely to
have a permanent reputation. That such can-
vases are few make it the more easy to do them
justice.

The general impression made on the spectator
by the exhibition of 1904 is a satisfactory one, and

PORTRAIT OF ADMIRAL SIR BY P. A. BESNARD

J. EDMUND COMMERELL, V.C.