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| ON THE BRINK OF THE WELL - By Frederic
Montenard. this fine picture was to be found in the southeast corner
of Gallery 53, French Section, which the visitor entered immediately
on ascending the southern steps to the last annex of the Art Palace.
Across this large room, on the west wall, was another painting by the
same artist, called "Under the Arbor." This picture of ripening love
in rural scenes may be called an evolutionary step from the works of
the Frenchman Millet, the Englishman Landseer, and the Danish DeHaas,
for here human beings, beasts and fields are used as the vehicles of
universal human emotion. In the march of the genre picture, we
shall, then, first see Rosa Bonheur's, Landseer's and DeHaas' cows,
sheep and horses. We shall thereafter study Millet's "Angelus," or
"Man with the Hoe," which we have
illustrated. In these, the artist has been occupied only with the
inspiration of what we must call illumination, or luminosity. The
edges of his objects will glow with light or fire, and the lover of
art will choose the meaningless or pessimistic picture with these
incandescent gleams of color rather than the glorious "Crosses of
Constantine in the Clouds," that have soul, yet lack color. But
sated with skill, the artist must at last bring all his fire to play
on the feeling of the heart, and while the cows drink, the swain must
sigh and the maiden blush. The picture before us is therefore an
interesting study; we must eventually have a Barbizon school for the
church and parlor, as well as for the potato-field. |
