DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36582#0069
THE DO RE GALLERY. 33
of refuge, though it is obvious that that too will soon be submerged. A terrible feeling of
gloom and despair is spread over the whole composition—from the murky sky to the angry
billows—from the tigress glaring at her approaching fate, to the drowning human families that
struggle and implore in vain. The waves are, perhaps, a little stiff; but there is a fine poetical
sentiment in the similitude to the jaws of ravenous creatures observable in those which seem
to be climbing the sides of the rock. Note, also, the contrast between the passionate tumult
of the water in the foreground, where some life yet remains to be destroyed, and the deadly
calm observable in the distance, where the conflict is over and the vengeance consummated.
PLATE VI.
CAIN AND ABEL OFFERING THEIR SACRIFICES.
Ti-ie subject here is from Genesis iv. 3—5. Abel, who was a keeper of sheep, brought
as a sacrifice the firstlings of his flock, while Cain offered the fruit of the ground. The
oblation of the one was accepted, and of the other rejected; at which “ Cain was very wroth,
and his countenance fell.” The murder of Abel was committed shortly after; but in the
present illustration we only see the first lowering of the tempest, as, with moody brow and
lurking attitude, Cain regards his brother apart. The landscape is very fine. A gloomy
valley, bounded by a bare, stony wall of mountain, sprinkled with rough boulders, and
darkened with shaggy wood, is the scene of the sacrifice. The smoke of Abel’s offering goes
up in a straight, cloudy column into the cloudy sky, while Cain’s is beaten back to the earth in
great rolling masses of flame and vapour. Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of the
drawing is the dim, overshadowed, primitive look that is spread over the whole composition.
PLATE VII.
THE TRIBUTARIES OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
In the Prologue to “ Atala,” Chateaubriand tells us that the Mississippi, “in its course of more
than a thousand leagues, waters a delicious country, called by the inhabitants of the United
States the ‘New Eclen,’ to which the French left the pretty appellation of Louisiana. A
thousand other rivers, tributaries of the Mississippi—the Missouri, the Illinois, the Arkansas, the
Wabache, the Tennessee—enrich it with their mud and fertilise it with their waters. When all
these rivers have been swollen by the deluges of winter, uprooted trees, forming large portions
of forests torn down by tempests, crowd about their sources. In a short time the mud cements
H
of refuge, though it is obvious that that too will soon be submerged. A terrible feeling of
gloom and despair is spread over the whole composition—from the murky sky to the angry
billows—from the tigress glaring at her approaching fate, to the drowning human families that
struggle and implore in vain. The waves are, perhaps, a little stiff; but there is a fine poetical
sentiment in the similitude to the jaws of ravenous creatures observable in those which seem
to be climbing the sides of the rock. Note, also, the contrast between the passionate tumult
of the water in the foreground, where some life yet remains to be destroyed, and the deadly
calm observable in the distance, where the conflict is over and the vengeance consummated.
PLATE VI.
CAIN AND ABEL OFFERING THEIR SACRIFICES.
Ti-ie subject here is from Genesis iv. 3—5. Abel, who was a keeper of sheep, brought
as a sacrifice the firstlings of his flock, while Cain offered the fruit of the ground. The
oblation of the one was accepted, and of the other rejected; at which “ Cain was very wroth,
and his countenance fell.” The murder of Abel was committed shortly after; but in the
present illustration we only see the first lowering of the tempest, as, with moody brow and
lurking attitude, Cain regards his brother apart. The landscape is very fine. A gloomy
valley, bounded by a bare, stony wall of mountain, sprinkled with rough boulders, and
darkened with shaggy wood, is the scene of the sacrifice. The smoke of Abel’s offering goes
up in a straight, cloudy column into the cloudy sky, while Cain’s is beaten back to the earth in
great rolling masses of flame and vapour. Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of the
drawing is the dim, overshadowed, primitive look that is spread over the whole composition.
PLATE VII.
THE TRIBUTARIES OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
In the Prologue to “ Atala,” Chateaubriand tells us that the Mississippi, “in its course of more
than a thousand leagues, waters a delicious country, called by the inhabitants of the United
States the ‘New Eclen,’ to which the French left the pretty appellation of Louisiana. A
thousand other rivers, tributaries of the Mississippi—the Missouri, the Illinois, the Arkansas, the
Wabache, the Tennessee—enrich it with their mud and fertilise it with their waters. When all
these rivers have been swollen by the deluges of winter, uprooted trees, forming large portions
of forests torn down by tempests, crowd about their sources. In a short time the mud cements
H