The combination of works of painting and sculpture with the most exquisite productions of ceramic art, glass-ware, and all that is most delicate in jewellery and goldsmith's work, adds a special attraction to these exhibitions, which are always looked for with the utmost interest. It is, indeed, the jewellers, who, among all our Belgian art workers, have succeeded in making themselves and their productions the best known and most widely appreciated; the more so as in their case one was able to compare their works closely and determine their relative merits. It may truly be said that their most notable characteristic is diversity--a diversity which is shown, not only by the amateurs, so to speak, but also among the professionals.
No remarks on Belgian sculpture--particularly in its decorative sense--are complete without mention being made of Charles Van der Stappen. True, he has executed but a small number of detached ornaments, but in the arrangement of the hair in his exquisitely fanciful busts he has lavished a wealth of fine modelling, the influence of which is still widely felt.
In the works of M. Paul Dubois we discover the sculptor modelling the details of his buckles and clasps as he would so many powerful muscles. M. Fernand Dubois seems to be a _chercheur_ of a more subtle kind; but this very excess of ingenuity sometimes mars the plastic effect of his jewels.
From Victor Rousseau we have had so far nothing more than a gold bracelet. The subject is quite simple--two hands holding a pearl; but the work is in every way worthy of the young Brussels artist, whom I regard as one of the most remarkable personalities in the domain of contemporary Belgian sculpture.
The decorator Van de Velde, who has left Brussels, and is now settled in Berlin, exhibited at some of the "Libre Esthétique" _salons_ a series of jewels remarkable for their firm and consistent construction.
The jewels displayed recently by M. Feys are distinguished by grace and felicitous appropriateness; but even more striking is the perfection of their execution, which is really extraordinary in its suggestion of suppleness.
Other jewels displayed recently at the "Libre Esthétique" by M. Morren and Mlle. de Bronckère also deserve notice.