NEW CITY HALL.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3972, 16 May 1870, Page 6

NEW CITY HALL.

Bvche. jEß^dipramaol "The, Apocalypse" Vis ex'.ibited in the New City Hall, on Saturd ../ evening, for the } first time in A lokla-'i d. Ifj was a mos/b successf ul op ening of an exhibition which, it ( is announced will ba continued for a' week'; there' 'being very few seals in the hall iipt occupied. Regarded merely as paintings, many of -the scenes of the diorama are excallent ; the descriptive lecture, by Mr. W,~G. Carey, is ( deliverep. well and tastefully ; and the music is , above the average of that which Jias to be listened to while dioramas or panoramas are being exhibited. Those who, _ taking the .trouble to think on the question, can persuade theraselve3 that " The Apocalypse" is a fit subject for a diorama, or for a public entertainment of any kind, will not regret visiting the New City Hall during the week ; and those who make such a visit without thinking, may find in what is exhibited enough, to excite a sort of wonder, and may be gratified thereby. We cannot praise the diorama, because we think that " The Apocalypse" is not a subject for a popular enter fcainment. We have seen it suggested as praise of the diorama, or aa an apology for it, that there are many who read the Book of Revelations who are unable to realise for themselves the mystical and awful visions described in that Book ; and that the artists who have painted the diorama have done a worthy work in aiding the imaginations of such persons. We believe, however, that the great majority of those who go to see the diorama are not likely to be readers of the Book of Revelations : that those visitors who are such readers will not be instructed by these pictures, and that those who are not such readers may be puzzled, but will not be helped to understand the mystical wiitings. We btKeve that no Scriptural subject should be dressed in the form of a popular entertainment ; the inevitable result is a burlesquing of that which is sacred, and which the promoters of the entertainment would certainly not avow it to be their desiie to burlesque. The most learned of divines, after years of study, would surely never undertake to convey to a mixed audience, in the course of an hour, his own conception of £he interpretation of the \isions of John'; and such an expounder would sxirely not think that his exposition could be aided by the exhibition of a painted conception of the forms, material or otherwise, of -which he desired to make clear only the mystical meaning. To astonish may be a good means &i continuing to attract mixed audiences '; and, if the subject is a, legitimate one, the means are not to be complained of. Bat to astonish, by means of painted representations of things meant to be hideous or meant to be beautiful — by the pretended delineation, on a given number of square yards of canvas, of all which Christians of every denomination agree in regarding as most awful, most sacred, and most adorable— i 3 to employ means which we believe should not be employed, for a purpose which we believe to be not attainable — except it be for the purpose of' money-making — and with a result which cannot be that of aiding to comprehension of Scripture, or promoting religion or piety. Almost every scene in the diorama is open to obi jection on the grounds we have suggested. The concluding two, which are put forward as pictures of the New Jerusalem, are, we admit, beautiful as paintings. But that which is called the " city" is just such a composition, in all its essentials, as would make an effective scene in an extravaganza 5 and that which closes the exhibition is a landscape which might have been copied or compiled from Claude. While those scenes are being exhibited, the lecturer reads from the Book of Revelations the description there given of the city. The sublime language is well uttered ; but what follows almost instantly ? An announcement that there will be " a distribution of costly gifts," and — a waltz by the orchestra !