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| CUPID'S CAPTIVES - On the west wall of Gallery
55 in the East Pavilion of the Art Palace, French Section, hung the
delicate and beautiful oil painting by Ernest Jean Aubert, which is
portrayed in the engraving. Here, modesty, grace, and withal human
nature unite to captivate the oberver, and it is very strange that
the voice of the world of art does not acclaim more artists truly
great who produce these poetic effects. This painting may justly be
contrasted with the notable "Cupid and Psyche"
by Royer, which hung
on the same wall, a painting that has been represented on these
pages. In that large and sensational work, Psyche sat on a fence,
and Cupid, a youth the size of Adonis, but winged, pressed his court
upon the maiden's lips. The drawing, the display, the mist, were
boastfully shown, but at what sacrifice of integral beauty. It must
be that there will come a time when the picture of these maidens,
captured by the little troopers - received with joy, with fear, with
shame, led on toward the domains of unfolding life - will be
treasured as noble, healthful, and more highly artistic than mere
studies that alarm the ingenuous and are often the vehicle of insult
and scandal. This was the only picture shown at Chicago by Aubert,
whose future labors, however, will be followed by many with interest
and affection. |
