International studio (36.1908/1909(1909))

"UNE VIEILLE TLACE, ARRAS, FAS-DE-CALAIS
us with lealiy novei, enjoyabie and delicate inter-
pretations.
But how comes it that in France, where formerly,
in the romantic days, so many artists deiighted to
set up their easeis in front of the wails of our
deiightfui iittie fortihed towns, one faiis to meet,
whether on Norman, Breton, Picardian, Bur-
gundian, or Provengal soii, the disciples of Isabey,
Huet, or Hervier, of oid
Boulard or Decamps, or
indeed of Turner, Con-
stabie or Bonington, giadiy
working in the street itselt,
translating, for our delight,
with sure and rapid touch,
these vestiges of the past,
these agglomerations of
ancient dwelling places,
these precious specimens
of religious and civic archi-
tecture ? For there is no
country so rich as France
in adorable little sleeping
cities, lying almost dead in
all their beauty. They
abound from North to
South, from East to West.
The tourist is delighted to
discover them on the
banks of the Loire, the
Seine, the Rhbne, and the

Garonne, or near the
shores of the Moselle, the
Meuse, the Marne. the
Somme, or the Rance.
That genius Turner, the
painter of marvellous
water-colours exalting all
that was picturesque in the
old provinces of Great
Britain and the Continent,
lost no time in the course
of several visits to France,
but produced work which
may serve as a guide to
the admirable scenery
abounding in an admirable
land.
I was thinking of all
this, just as one ponders
over the mysteries of
fashion which dominate
everything, when at an ex-
hibition held at Georges
Petit's in Paris some little while ago I came acioss
a number of scenes from little towns in the north.
Signed Albert Lechat, they achieved a brihiant
success.
This was a delight to me, like the unhoped-for
advent of warm, Bowery spring, like the revival of
one of the noble traditions of French art. These
visions of provincial works, lying drowsily in the

BY A. I.ECHAT

Ltt POKT DE ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME

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