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EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
Austrian art has very little distinctive character; it has more of the French than of the German element in it, and it has drawn from these two sources liberally. Regarding the Viennese as the typical Austrian, it is surprising to see how they have assimilated French and German ideas in their society, in their literature and in their art. Vienna is far from being an artistic city. Unpicturesque as she now stands, unimposing architecturally in comparison with many other European cities, and with superficiality of character in the people, well illustrated by the very celebrated, but, on acquaintance, wearisome music of her pet musicians, the Strauss family, she offers no special advantages to her artists in the way of public instruction or patronage. It is little to he expected that in a city where there is, generally speaking, no homes, in our sense of the word, and where you may visit a thousand apartments without seeing a library or even a bookshelf, that there should be a great public taste for art. The Viennese, as a rule, seek amusement outside their own rooms, and do not, like the English or the French, strive to decorate their interiors with an idea to the solid and lasting gratifica- tion of the eye. The Englishman and Frenchman in quite humble circumstances will often buy a small picture, which, hung in the best light their rooms afford, shown with loving pride to every visitor, cherished as if it were from the hand of an old master, stands as almost food and drink for its happy owner, and certainly does furnish much mental nourishment. On the contrary, the Viennese affect the flash and glitter of the French taste, display as a people no ideas of proper combinations of color, and yet have the reputation of possessing original artistic faculties to a high degree;— a reputation founded on this universal genius for assimilation of other men’s ideas, and not always the best ones at that. The art academy does not rank high, either in the means of instruction or in the number of its students, and most young artists, tempted by the superior advantages of the schools of Munich or Paris, and the easy access to these art centres, seek the establishment of their ground or foundation for then* future artistic career in one or the other of these two schools. The Austrian empire has within its boundaries a greater variety of picturesque natural scenery, of type of race, of