International studio (16.1902)

Royal Academy Students

the life of this widow-queen there are two vivid
Pictures, one drawn by Dion Cassius, the other by
Tacitus. The first picture represents Boadicea
Wot long after her two daughters have been out-
raged, and she herself scourged. A tall and
majestic woman, with light hair falling thickly
below her waist, she is seen—not in a chariot, as
represented by Mr. Babb—but, “ after the manner
of the Romans,” on a throne or tribune of turf;
and fiercely, in a hoarse voice, she calls on her
People to revolt against the tyranny of the Romans.
She wears a heavy gold torque about her neck; her
tunic is of several colours, like a Scotch plaid ; over
rt, fastened by a fibula or brooch, is a thick robe of
coarse stuff; and she holds in her hand a spear, so
that she may look terrible. The picture by Tacitus
represents the heroine at a later period in her
career, after much fierce butchery and the sacking
of Camulodunon and London, and the municipal
town of Verulam. It is just before the last battle
with the Romans, and Boadicea, drawn in a chariot
With her two daughters before her, drives through
ber army, and excites the greatest enthusiasm by
ber words. This is the only mention made of
a chariot, and so much time has elapsed
since the outrage that the princesses are not
Weeping and draggled with the misery of their
shame. If many of the students had borne
this fact in mind, their reliefs would have been

more historical and very much less pictorial and
tearful in sentiment.
We come finally to the designs for the decora-
tion of a portion of a public building. As three of
the designs are reproduced here in colour-facsimile,
it is not necessary to give much time and space
to detailed criticisms. The subject, Spenser’s
“ Masque of Cupid,” is in all respects admirable,
for it is something more than a rich carnival among
allegories; in its arrangement as a composition it
is also frieze-like in the impression made on the
mind by the decorative balance of its groups of
figures, all moving in rhythm to the full, strange
notes of a delicious melody. Nearly all the students
in the competition have caught the frieze-like dis-
position of the figures, but most of the designs are
too tame, too pretty, too un-Spenserian, while the
rhythm of the music is felt only in those by Mr.
Solomon and Mr. Lobley. The design by Mr.
Lobley, despite a certain freakishness that comes
near to caricature, is a remarkable piece- of work,
full of rich colour, full also of imaginative daring.
In Mr. Pittman’s design the movement of the pro-
cession is arrested, just as it is in the studied and
able composition, with its fine passages of excellent
colour, by Mr. F. S. Eastman, the prize-winner,
who alone has had sufficient nerve to draw a lion
at all resembling the “lion ravenous” in the poem.
On the other hand, the Cupid keeps his eyes blind-


“ BOADICEA URGING THE BRITONS TO AVENGE HER OUTRAGED BY S. NICHOLSON BABB
DAUGHTERS,” (GOLD MEDAL AND TRAVELLING STUDENTSHIP)
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