REPORT OF MR. MILLETT.
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the pictures do, like Meissonier’s, impress one more by the skill shown in their execution than for the ideas they illustrate, there remains often much to admire outside this material qualification, and we find occasional passages of honest, spontaneous feeling. The best one of the pictures shown was the Gladiators. The multitude of spectators crowding the benches of the arena are impatiently awaiting the final act of the tragedy passing before their eyes. In the foreground, with one foot on the throat of his vanquished opponent, stands a gladiator, half naked, half in armor, turning to the imperial box for the unfavorable verdict of the thumbs. The courtesans give their vote with ferocity, and shout for the death of the conquered,'while the emperor, almost helpless in his obesity, listlessly eats a fig. Through the awning come streaks of sunlight, which straggle over the arena and the crowds of spectators, and beam in a mass in the background. This effect is especially well managed. Another picture is an Arab supporting the head of his horse dying in the desert;—a bit of sentiment, finely executed.
Meissonier neither can be classed with Gerome, or be said to be totally different from him. He paints on a smaller scale, with less detail, and manages to give a great deal of breadth in a very small space. He exposed a number of small panels,—a soldier or two under a white wall, a group of cavalry, an interior with figures, neither impressive, and all well done,—and the the most eloquent picture I have seen from his hand, 1807 , a cavalry charge. Napoleon and his staff are seen on an eminence in the background, and, sweep- * n g across the front, is a squadron of cavalry led to the charge, every man saluting his chief with an enthusiastic swing of the sabre. The horses are unfinished ; in fact, the whole foreground is but an ébauche, yet there is a dash and vigor in all the movements, a free and unconventional action in the horses that is rarely equalled. Certainly the charm of Meissonier’s pictures is in something more than their liliputian size.
Perhaps the finest figures in full action were shown by Poulenger ;—three Kabyles pursued by French scouts, the fourth just rolled over by a ball from the gun of the foremost soldier. The dark-skinned, half-naked natives, rush down the steep hillside with swinging arms and vigorous stride ; one