waves. N. Sichel's "Bayadere" is an Oriental dancing-girl wo carries the bottle of water the balancing of which on her head is one of the features of her senuous and alluring performance. Fritz Zuber-Buhler in "The Dew" represents her as a lovely spirit almost spectral in her pale beauty, who flies over the landscape which is shimmering in the moonbeams, shaking out from the tresses of her golden hair the pearls of moisture which fall upon and refresh the earth. It is a charming conceit, and rendered with a sentiment and feeling which rank it among the very best works the artist has produced.

The sensation of the Paris salon for 1878 was, paradoxical as it may seem, a painting which was not there. It was a canvas by Henry Gervex, and was founded on the last lines of Alfred de Musset's famous poem, "Rolla." It was a masterpiece, one of the few real great works of modern art. Artists and critics alike loaded it with applause, and hailed the painter with acclamations as he took his afternoon promenade. But the Administration of the salon, happened to be in a particularly censorious mood that spring, and excluded the picture. The artist then exhibited it in the gallery of a dealer in the Rue de la Chaussee-d'Antin, where all Paris flocked to see it. It was probably the most successful private exhibition ever made in Paris, and it laid a secure foundation for the artist's fortune.

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Chapter 11 Text

Charles Amable Lenoir