REPORT OF MR. MILLETT.
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triumphal chariot, surrounded by his five sons, among whom is seen Caligula, proudly rides Germanicus in the regalia of a conqueror, the mark for showers of bouquets and garlands. There is nothing especially original in the composition of the picture, the light is concentrated on the white-robed figure of Thusnelda, and the shadow encircles it completely, of course magnifying the importance of the principal group and subordinating all the rest. The distance is treated with great skill, and the fine effect of light artistically managed. The color is not absolutely bad nor yet fine, and certain passages are decidedly conventional. The figure of Thusnelda is a beautiful one, full of haughty pride and queenly grace, and the action of the little boy clinging to his mother’s hand is charmingly naive. The character of the blond Germans is finely portrayed, and there is no lack of interest in the personages or incidents. As an expressive illustration of a familiar event in Roman history, it is worthy the highest praise, and is far more feelingly composed and lovingly studied than the majority of similar productions.
TAe Building of the Py ramids is the title of Gustav Richter’s largest and most pretentious picture, and the name suggests much more than is found on the canvas. Such a subject is fertile in resources, and requires little invention or forcing of situation to make an interesting composition. But Richter has produced an illustration neither remarkably instructive arclueologicully, nor abounding in other interest. His pyramids are buildings after a decidedly modern principle, his types are more Abyssinian than Egyptian, and there is hardly a costume correctly given. There is, withal, very little unity °f idea in the work. The figures are moved by no common 1 repulse; they are as diverse in sentiment as they are false in type, and in a large proportion are simple rernjjlissage. Take the figure of a young girl with a jar of water, leaning idly against a tree, and gracefully raising the ten-gallon jar full of Suiter for a boy to drink as easily as if it were a feather; or the vegetable carriers, entering the underground apartment, ^vhere the artist has even been obliged to introduce the effect °f torch-light, to enhance the somewhat flagging interest in that portion of the picture ; or even consider any figure away f l '°m the immediate vicinity of the queen and chief architect,