[Illustration: MARIE MARGUERITE LAMBERT DE THORIGNY. By Largillière]
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A LADY. By François Boucher]
There are some good canvases by the landscape men. Constable has an unusual portrait, as well as the gorgeous “Glebe Farm” in the Fletcher Collection. John Crome, in his “Hautbois Common,” shows the influence of the principles of the Dutch School. Wilson has an unusually rich “Italian Landscape.” Turner, the greatest of the English landscapists, is responsible for three pictures. The early “Saltash” is rich and luminous; the “Grand Canal, Venice,” is one of the best of his pictures of the island city, and the “Whale Ship” is in his late style. There are some wonderful water-colors by him on loan.
[Illustration: ARABS CROSSING A FORD. By Eugène Fromentin]
The French School of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is represented by pictures few in number, but excellent in quality. Boucher (boo´-shay), Largillière (lar-geel´-yare), Nattier (nat´-ee-ay), Drouais (droo´-ay)--all these men show amazing strength on the decorative side, and, always, exquisite taste. Chardin (shar´-dahn) has a beautiful low-toned still-life, “Preparations for a Breakfast.” David’s portrait in the Fletcher Gallery is a marvel of directness. In the Morgan Wing there are eight decorative landscapes by Hubert Robert well worth looking up in this connection.
Some of the modern French artists were appreciated by Americans before their genius was recognized at home. Certainly the Modern French Section is one of the strongest in the Museum. Romanticism, realism and impressionism are all to be seen in the work of their chief exponents. An afternoon might profitably be spent with the men of Barbizon (bar´-bee-zong). Corot’s (kor´-ro) poetic outlook upon nature is plain in each of twelve landscapes. The “Lane Through the Trees,” with a sense of cool shadow after the heat of a dusty road, is perhaps the best of them.
[Illustration: ENGLISH LANDSCAPE. By Thomas Gainsborough]
[Illustration: LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES. By George Morland]
Rousseau (roos-so) speaks a more rugged and direct language in the fifteen subjects by him. The sober “Gorges d’Apremont (gorge da´-pre-mong); Evening,” with a still luminous sky above the hills, is magnificent. Millet (mee´-yay) is represented by the famous “Sower,” with its rhythm and swing, an almost equally fine “Water-Carrier,” the impressive “Autumn” in the Fletcher Collection, and half a dozen others. Dupré (dyu´-pray) and Diaz (dee´-ath) have good pictures, and when has Troyon ever surpassed his superb “Holland Cattle”? Daubigny (daw-been´-yee), though he comes a bit later, is usually associated with these men. There are eight or nine of the subjects he used to find in punting about among the streams and back-waters of the Seine (sane) and Oise (wahz)--how intimate they seem!