No. 158. 'Out in the Fields'--A. D. Shattuck, N. A. A charming pastoral,
with some elms, graceful and feathery as the far-famed trees on the
meadows of North Conway.
No. 27. 'Heart's Ease'--William P. W. Dana, A. We heard a little three
and a half year old reply, in answer to a question as to which picture
she would prefer taking home with her from the Academy: 'The sick
child;' and we could not wonder at her choice, for a more touching
design has seldom been placed on canvas. The name, the accompaniments,
and the child's expression betoken a rare delicacy of conception. The
flowers are exquisite, and the cheerful contrast of color in the drapery
seems a promise of gayer, if not happier hours.
But space--together, probably, with the patience of our readers--fails
for the enumeration of all the interesting and meritorious paintings in
the exhibition of '63; otherwise, we might discourse at length upon the
two masterly works by Bierstadt (Nos. 6 and 35), the 'Swiss Lake,' by
Casilear, W. T. Richards's carefully elaborated foregrounds,
Huntington's charming figures, De Haas's spirited sea scenes, and other
meritorious productions under names well known to the lovers of art in
New York.
As good ofttimes springs from evil, may not perhaps the present severe
trial through which our country is passing aid in lifting the hearts of
her children to more spiritual regions, that they may approach ever
nearer and nearer to a more thorough comprehension and enjoyment of the
'Eternal Beauty, ever ancient and ever new,' as feebly mirrored in human
art?
WAS HE SUCCESSFUL?
'Do but grasp into the thick of human life! Every one _lives_ it--to
not many is it _known_; and seize it where you will, it is
interesting.
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