International studio (22.1904)

' BURG HE FURSTENECK

AH the drawings in this series might well be men-
tioned, for they all appear as the expression of the
romantic landscape. Take, for example, this power-
ful thus described by the poet:
" At my feet, the background of the landscape
was hidden by a thick white mist, its edges gilded
by the sun. 'Twas as though a cloud had fallen

into the valley

the fog lifted, and when I

drawing (see page 41) has
accentuated the legendary
side of the scene, the
dramatic aspect of the
spot where, according to
tradition, the cruel Arch-
bishop Hatto met his end,
devoured alive by rats,
as he himself had caused
the flames to devour
the famine-stricken folk —
men, women and children
— who had clamoured
for bread outside his
castle walls. Now, says
Victor Hugo, the curse
of Heaven and the horror
of mankind are on that
tower; and, indeed, this is
exactly what his drawing
expresses.
I admire greatly, too, his
.Z?M7y TM77^77(page 41).
It is a fine thing, wherein the firm and vigorous
manner of the master is expressed to the full.
Expelled from Belgium, with his granddaughter
Jeanne, Hugo made a journey into Luxembourg.
While engaged in drawing the house in which he
lived at the corner of the bridge—a drawing which
has certain magnificent Rembrandt-like contrasts
of light and shade—he wrote: "1 love this country ;

FROM THE DRAWING BY VICTOR HUGO

reached the village the sun-
beams were coming too."
Here we touch on
one of the most romantic
aspects of the Rhine.
Between Lorch and Bingen
the river broadens out
before entering into the
narrow gorges. Yonder
stand the Rheinstein, the
Reichenstein, and the
Vaugtsberg, sombre ruins
even now seeming to
threaten one another ; and
here, on this side of
theconftuendeof the Nahe,
rises "a strange edifice,
a mournful ruin erect
among the reeds in mid-
stream between two tower-
ing mountains. This ruin
is Aa Ybz/T* WdTy.
Victor Hugo in his

'UN CHATEAU DU RUIN" FROM THE DRAWING BY VICTOR HUGO

42