THE POPE AND THE CENTENNIAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 191, 24 November 1876, Page 14

THE POPE AND THE CENTENNIAL.

(From the ' Western Watchman.') Your correspondent intended to have described long ago, for the readers of the ' Watchman/ the contributions of the Holy Father, Pius IX., to the art department of the Centennial Exposition, but, notwithstanding repeated visits to that magnificent portion of the fair, the whereabouts of the Vatican collection remained a mystery to me until a few days ago, when I was guided to the department containing them by a friend who happened to stumble on them during one of his visits, and who recognized them through the fact of their being marked with labels containing the title of the Pontiff. The collection is, of course, as to quality, superfine. In the matter of quantity it is not imposing, containing only five pieces in all, — four mosaics and one gobelin piece. The mosaics are, it is needless to siy, among the finest specimens in existence of that kind of art, and it may be fairly doubted if there is extant a more pei'fect example of gobelin tapestry in the world than the specimen whrch the Vatican contributions contain. Two of the mosaics are companion works, the subjects being a pair of vases containing flowers, with fruits at the bases and birds of paradise perched amid the roses. The other two mosaics are pictures of the Madonna and Child. One is a very ancient looking work, in which the Infant is kissing the Holy Mother. The faces in this picture differ widely from those in the other, whose design has furnished about nine-tenths of the popular pictures of the Holy Family. This is the famous picture of which Guido Eeni, who flourished in the early part of the seventeenth century, furnished the original. The Vatican mosaic is beautifully perfect, in color, tone and expression. I heard Bayard Taylor, the American Egyptologist, say of this subject— I am almost certain that he referred to this particular design that its original was discovered on various relics recovered from the ruins of ancient Egypt ; so it seems that the group which Catholics regavd with bo much veneration, and whose representation in engravings, mosaics and oil paintings has gone on until they are found, in their cheaper forms, in the houses of hundreds of thouBands of Catholics, and, in the more costly styles, adorning and dignifying the parlors and galleries of the wealthy of all denominations, ■was originally designed by the hand of 6ome old Egyptian who had slept in death for a thousand years before the nation which gave us a Guido Eeni bad any existence. The gobelin in the collection has for its subject the martyrdom of St. Agnes. It is a wonderful work. Lest some one who read this might not fully understand what gobelin work is, it may be briefly stated that it is the production iv various colors by weaving of a picture or ether design on a groundwork of threads. It derives its peculiar name from Jehan Gobeelen, a Flemish dyer of the fifteenth century, who erected in Paris a building for the manufacture of this rich tapestry. The specimen the Holy Father sends us is said to be an old work, yet its colors are brilliant and fresh-looking. At a distance it would be taken for a fine oilpainting. The expression on the upturned face of St. Agnes, as she stands on the summit of a hill of blazing faggots j is in itself a marvellous triumph of art.