ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2111, 9 August 1894, Page 49

ART AND ARTISTS.

Mr Swan, A.R.A., the celebrated animal painter, never draws from posed models, but from the moving animal, and is a constant attendant at the Zoological Gardens.

Gourlay Steele, who on the death of Sir Edward Landscer was appointed animal painter in Scotland to the Queen, died recently in Edinburgh at the age of 74.

The Common Council of Glasgow has refused a license for the exhibition of " The Slave Market," by Dastugue, owing to the nude figures ; and treated with the same indignity " Cupid's Revenge," a scene of Venus bathing while Cupid is making off with her clothes.

The- Shah of Persia is a great caricaturist. The walls of his private apartments are covered with plain white paper, and on these he scribbles funny pictures whenever the fancy takes him. When he grows tired of them, they are washed off or the room is repapered.

The most extraordinary biography in existence is neither written nor printed; it is painted. It contains the life and adventures of Charles Magnes, a noble Venetian. Having been calumniated, he determined to set himself right in the eyes of his contemporaries, and employed Paul Veronese to paint his biography. The volume has 18 pages of vellum ; each has a large central picture, surrounded by 10 smaller, each having its appropriate inscription, the whole recounting the most notable scenes in his life.

Foreign honours have been liberally bestowed upon Mr Laurens Alma-Tadema, R.A. He became a Chevalier and an Officer of the Legion of Honour in the short space of five years, and ip, besides, a knight of many German and Prussian noble orders. Mr Alma-Tadema is an instance of the sickly boy who surprises everybody by achieving success and length of years together. Originally intended forthe law, ill-health compelled him (not unwillingly) to abandon his studies, and he retnrned to art, the first love of his boyhood.

The story of how Rosa Bonheur was presented with the " Chevalier's " cross is well worth re-calling. In 1865, when Paris was visited by the cholera scourge, the Emperor (Napoleon III) personally inspected the hospitals. He was accompanied on his rounds by the Empress Eugenic, and in recognition of her bravery he awarded her the cross. One day shortly afterwards, Rosa Bonheur was surprised to receive a visit from the beautiful Empress at her studio. The true purpose of the latter's journey to her wa3 made apparent at leaving. As she embraced the famous painter of " The Horse Fair" she deftly unpinned her own decoration and transferred it to the other's dress. Then, returning to Paris, the Empress informed Napoleon of what she had done, saying, " I have given away my cross to the woman to whom it has so long been due." Next day all France knew that Rosa B»nheur had been " decorated."

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