International studio (23.1904)

The Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts

represents two young women standing up before
a glass held for them by a negro, who might, if
such a thing were possible, have escaped from a
painting of II Bassano or Paolo Veronese. There
is, in fact, something in the decorative feeling,
richness of colouring, and grace of this fine work
that recalls the work of the Venetian school,
especially, perhaps, of Tiepolo.
More foreigners, and foreigners of the highest
rank ! The Spaniards Rusinol and Anglada send
—the former beautiful and poetic landscapes from
the Balearic Isles he knows so well : the latter weird,
restless, crowded scenes of Paris at night; the
Be'gians, Willaert, Claus, Franz Courtens, and
Baertsoen, who interpret well the fog-haunted cities
and the wide, silent stretches of water ol their
native land ; the Norwegian Fritz Thaulow, who
is so thoroughly in touch with the luminous land-
scapes of the North ; CBterlind, who sends a fine
work, called Belles de Nuit; and last, but by no
means least, the Canadian Mori ice, whose sea
pieces, with their delicate effects of light, are full of
charm.
Many artists have been blamed for repeating
themselves, and for sending year after year pictures
of identical subjects. No such reproach is justified
in this case, either with regard to Charles Cottet
or Lucien Simon, Henri Le Sidaner or Dauchez.
The first, whose pictures are generally in a very
sombre key, exhibits this year an important canvas
in which the scale of colouring is an) thing but
subdued. The Bretonne women in his Pardon
de Saint Anne de la Palud are seated in a green
meadow bathed in brilliant light, and are wearing
dresses of bright and variegated hues, with which
their white caps contrast vividly, the general effect
being charmingly naive and fresh. The bowls of
curds and whey and baskets of apples and eggs on
the ground beside them are also painted with strict
regard to truth. In the distance rises up the quaint
old church, and groups of peasants are scattered
about in the fields. No one who has seen this boldly
conceived and executed composition, with its faith-
fulness to nature, can again accuse Cottet of being
a painter of black only.
The large canvas exhibited this year by Lucien
Simon is remarkable for its quiet and sombre
colouring. Nothing could be simpler or more
solemn than is the interior of the old Breton
church, in which can be made out the figures of
a number of peasants engaged in fervent devotion,
their different characters reflected in their attitudes
and gestures, but all alike full of the sincere piety
that is so infinitely touching.

Very varied also are the works sent by Henri
Le Sidaner, who, though he still letains his delicate
intuition into the poetry of nature, now translates
it in a somewhat bolder and more robust fashion
than has hitherto been his custom. His six can-
vases are interpretations of interiors and landscapes
of different kinds.
M. Andre Dauchez is one of the regular exhibi-
tors at the Salon from whom a pleasant surprise
may pretty surely be expected. His picture, Sous
les Chines, is no exception, and represents, rising
above a pale grey stream, a huge oak, with wide-
spreading branches and roots, from amongst the
shelter of which a young girl is emerging and about
to step into the water of the river. The work is
indeed one of the best things in the exhibition.
The fine landscape of Rene Menard is equal to
anything of a similar kind hitherto produced by
that skilful master. His Forest of Fontainebleau,
as seen from the top of the rocks of Franchard on
an autumn evening, interprets finely the russet
glow of the undulating masses of foliage in the
warm light of such a sunset as it was the delight
of Turner to paint.
In La Confidence, a large decorative panel by
Aman-Jean, that delicate interpreter of beautiful
women has excelled himself. It is, if possible,
fuller than ever of the mysterious charm of his
creations. The two women who, beneath the
shade of a tree in a park, bend their heads, one
with light the other with dark brown hair, towards
each other, as they exchange confidences, are simply
delightfully posed. For Francis Aubertin also it
may be claimed that, in his great decorative panel
for the Sorbonne, he has not striven in vain to reach
the ideal.
With acknowledged masters in this exhibition,
such as Raffaelli (whose Breton scenes I very greatly
admire), Billotte and Roll, Dauchez, Aubunin,
Aman-Jean, and Menard, must be also mentioned
certain members of a younger generation of artists,
whose praiseworthy efforts it would be unjust to
ignore. One of the most promising of them is
Caro-Delvaille, who already shows a very consider-
able mastery alike of composition and of colour,
and whose large canvas has been bought by the
State. Robert Besnard and Boutet de Monvel are
also much to be commended ; and a very excellent
effect has been obtained by Pierre Bracquemond
in his painting on wax, whilst M. Woogh has sent
a very good portrait.
I must not close without a word of special notice of
the fine composition of Gillot, M. Loubet at the Guild-
hall, which really represents a complete revolution

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