REPORT OF MR. MILLETT.
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palace, is a work of great power, displaying a grand unity of conception and singleness of purpose, added to a forcible and masculine execution. The scene is a common one in the rural districts of France. The procession of the church officials and state dignitaries is passing through the fields to invoke the blessing of God upon the ripening grain. The aged priest, bearing the holy symbol, is preceded by maidens dressed in white, carrying an image of the Virgin, and is accompanied by the flower-bearers and the censor-swingers. Behind march the pious villagers, with uncovered heads, and on every side kneel the peasants, in humble adoration. The strong sunlight shimmers over the tops of the yellow grain, plays upon the rich trappings and gaudy vestments, touches the white robes with streaks of warm light, and twinkles everywhere, in the clouds, in the distant village, and in the landscape, seeming to diffuse with its warm glow the feeling of respectful quiet and solemnity, when even the notes of the birds are hushed in the presence of the sacred ceremony. The types of the peasants are unaffected but true, and their actions unconsciously given. Observe with what skill the Perspective values of the tones are secured, so that the long row of figures is neither monotonous nor tortured, and the landscape and the groups are united to form an ensemble, with the interest centred in the principal actors. No figure is superfluous, each sustains his role, and all are possessed with the same idea.
Another picture is The Fountain , in which two peasant girls fill their jars at the spring, in the twilight. Their poses are full of natural grace, their actions simple and true, and above all, the deep, rich tone of the fading light is so faithfully
given, that the spectator feels the growing coolness and mysterious quiet of the falling night stealing upon the scene. Similarly inspired is the Return from the Fields , With troops of gleaners strolling home in the twilight; and another, with three girls, with interlocked arms, walking boine through the fields, sharing their simple confidences with each other. In all these pictures there is no obtrusive- Uos s, either in the sentiment or the execution, and they a Ppeal to every one alike, requiring no initiation into the