DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
tures are among the choicest treasures of the principal galleries of Europe;
but in this subject, the freedom and boldness of the treatment seem to
dwarf the more delicate and weaker rendering of Correggio, while in color
and expression Batoni is fully the equal of the older and more famous
XXII. The Daughter of Herodias. EMIL VERNET-LECOMTE (Paris,
France; b. 1821).
As stated in the remarks prefatory to this list, this plate has been taken to
represent one of the types of Eastern beauty and a costume appropriate to
the subject. It is known as "L'Almée" (The Dancing-Girl), and since
it was painted, in 1869, it has gained quite a fame as characteristic of
the artist and of the school to which he belongs. Travelers in the East
find so little change in dress and manners, as also boats, houses, tools,
instruments, and modes of life, from those of twenty centuries ago, that
we need not go far astray in taking a dancing-girl of the present day, in
that ancient land, to suggest the dress which the dancing Salome may
have assumed in order to please the voluptuous king and obtain the re-
quest of her revengeful mother. Viewed simply as a work of art, also, the
picture is pleasing. The dress is simple, graceful, and rich; the attitude
is easy and modest; and the face is agreeable in feature and expression.
XXIII. Martha and Mary. GUSTAVE RUDOLPH CLARENCE BOU-
LANGER (Paris, France; b. 1824).
Thoroughly effective and original, the hand of a master is to be seen in
every line. The artist, who was a pupil of PAUL DELAROCHE, carried off,
at the age of twenty-five, the "Grand Prize of Rome," the ambition of
every art student in the French and Italian schools. His grand earlier
successes were in the classical field; but of late years he has (as already
remarked) devoted himself more particularly to the Orient; and Arabia,
Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and the Levant in general, have been illustrated
by his glowing pencil. In this picture, the dark beauty and spirited action
of Martha, the serene repose of Mary's figure, and the sweetness of her face
and her quietude of manner under the fiery reproaches of her elder sister,
the characteristic contrast of color in the dresses of the two, the suggested
coolness of the vine-embowered porch, and the general harmony of line,
design, and color, are well worthy of observation. The fact that it was
designed and painted for this volume by the great Orientalist, gives to the
picture an additional value and interest.
XXIV. The Widow's Mite. ÉDOUARD DUBUFE (Paris, France; b. 1819).
This painter has achieved for himself a splendid record. His first studies were
made with his father, CLAUDE MARIE DUBUFE, who had attained eminence
as a portrait painter (b. 1790; d. 1864); but later, he had the great ad-
vantage of tuition by DELAROCHE, the acknowledged master of the French
school of thirty years ago. He began exhibiting his pictures in the annual
Salon des Beaux Arts at the age of twenty-one (obtaining a medal), and
shortly afterwards gave his attention to subjects of religious sentiment.
But after five years of this, successful as he was, he turned his talents into
the channel where his father had become famous, and has given France
a most admirable series of portraits of her public men and women,
nowned in the arts, in war, in politics, in society. During this period,
however, he has not lost sight of imaginative art, but has made his name
known throughout the world by such works as "The Prodigal Son,"
and the picture here reproduced, "The Widow's Mite." This group, with-
out doubt, is from the life; it bears all the marks of reality, without,
however, any of the hard, unsympathetic treatment of realism. The
thoughtful and rather sad face of the poor woman, beautiful with the
gentle joy of helping others poorer than herself; the unconscious babe
asleep on her shoulder; the bright blond beauty of the little girl who with
cheerful look watches the last penny of her mother's little store
" all
her living" as it drops into the treasury-coffer; and the half-roguish,
half-shy little boy standing close under the protecting hand of his elder
sister, these form a group rarely surpassed in grace or interest. The
color is managed with especial skill, the mother's somber robes being well.
contrasted with the brighter tints of the children's clothing, though all
are evidently worn and old. The gleam of brilliant effect from the tum-
bled red cap in the little fellow's hand is a marvel of cleverness, and the
general management of the light, softly illumining what would otherwise
be a rather cold and chilly picture, is most admirable.
XXV. Lydia the Hospitable. CHARLES BROCHART (Paris, France;
b. 1829).
From among the "Women of the Apostolic Church" treated of in the text, it was necessary to select some prominent character. Probably no other, save perhaps Dorcas, the typical figure of charitable industry, stands forth so distinctly as Lydia. A woman of Greek nationality, yet rescued from the sensuous habits of her race and time by the influence of Christianity and its strenuous spiritual and moral teaching as enforced by the Apostle Paul, Lydia appears chiefly as a clear-headed, generous-hearted woman of wealth, who, embracing the new religion with earnestness, was happy in
throwing open her house for the entertainment of its wandering Apostles, they leaving home and kindred to "endure hardship as good soldiers" among strangers and foreigners, for the cause they so nobly served; she welcoming them with cheerful hospitality to her home and giving them efficient aid in their work. The illustration aims only to set forth this idea; its intrinsic beauty of color and design are too obvious to need pointing out.
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