International studio (19.1903)

and lined with the bookstalis dear to the heart of
the book-lover. He has recatied the intense poetry
of these massive monuments, these triumphai arches,
these market-halis, these chapels and these tempies,
whose architecture seems aimost to iive. The
squares, the boulevards, the working quarters, have
a)l been sources of infrnite joy to M. Houbron,
who has with wonderful success depicted the biock
of vehicies and the crowds of passers-by jostling
one another in their feverish hurry. Ali this he
has painted, thanks to his very persona) and
originai manner, with precise and idiosyncratic
expression. If we wished, not to class him —for
talent is not to be ciassed—but to find some
atHnity in art between M. Houbron and the oid
masters, it is with Isabey, with Boulard, with
Hervier, and with Jongkind we shouid associate him.
Hke one and aii of these he has an eye for curious
detai), and also seeks to avoid commonpiace effccts
of )ight. Also he is a little complicated in his
which contains as many elements as his virtuosity
can Rttingly employ. Like the masters I have
named, he can catch the deep poetry of some pro-
vincial corner, some antique fagade, or blind alley
or dim lit lane brightened, may be, by a window

full of flowers or by a fruiterer's stall. Isabey,
Hervier, and Boulard excelled in noting, in the
somewhat sombre manner of Decamps and
Daumier, those places which suggested romantic
reverie. Houbron shows more life, more youthful
spirit, in his choice of places and crowds. Jongkind
—a master, alas ! all too late appreciated—even in
his day akin to our impressionists, noted with
marvellous skill the appearance of the town in fog
and in rain. With a vision which is always very
Dutch, Houbron, like the artist named, possesses
the secret of being able to paint his strong city
landscapes either in sunshine or in mist. But in
him this gift is younger, fresher, rnore tender. He
does not, as Jongkind did, always see Paris through
Amsterdam. He seems to me to be more expres-
sive than any of his predecessors in the truth of
his art.
The genesis of his career and of his labours
enables us the better to approach his noble gifts,
and the more cleariy to understand and appreciate
his work.
Necessity compelled Houbron, at Rrst, to under-
take all sorts of uncongenial work, which, being in
the nature of an "order," was in no way suited to his


" NOTRE-DAME

BY FREDERIC HOUBRON