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The Nation.
[Vol. 71, No. 1832
tion that one purpose at least of the bulld- ‘ers was that of defence. One need not con- ‘clude that a synthetically organized scheme of fortresses was concetved from the outset. Rather, we should say, as tho island be- came more and more populous, successive positions were selected, till at last, over a vast range of country, the harvests were commanded and protected trom this stretch of hill-towers presenting their openings ‘mostly to the south—not only the quarter on ‘which the safest harbors were found, but also the direction from which hostile incur- the most likely to come, ‘intensified on seeing, 1m t Cagliari, a very com- plete, if partly conjectural, restoration of the original ground-plan of a nuraghe, inductive- ly put together by the Cav. Filippo Nis- sardi as the result of years of study. It represents the central tower flanked with smaller turrets, and the line of circumval- lation described by a massive wall which, according to the hypothesis, enclosed the primitive settlement; while outside the boun- dary of this defence was the necropolis, 80 often filustrated in Sardinia in the Tumbos de los Gigantes.
Of the methetlc effect of the nuraghi in the landscape, little notice seems to have been taken. Photographs can give but a faint {dea of the impressivencss of these lonely masses of cyclopean blocks, dom! nating the plains, and presenting, under the afternoon sun, the most superb deep orange of their flanks, covered all over with stonecrop and other Ichenous growths; ‘while the base, and often the top of the structure, blossoms out in weeds and wild- flowers. There 1s, however, one result de- rived from careful photographing, namely, the correction of = defect common to al- ‘most all illustrations with pen or pen- cf, Such pictures usually represent the Unes of construction much too regularly. Poth from the cheap woodcuts of Sardint~ ‘au monographs, and from the elaborate en- sraving of La Marmora's atlas, which ac- companies his great work, the reader would be led to expect rectilinear effects resem- biing the lines of an Eddystone light- house; while the real beauty of these tow- fers seems rather to consist in thelr con- stant preservation of due and graceful re- lations between height and diameter, with- out insisting on strict regularity of up- right and horizontal lines. The undenia- ble practical superiority of photography in this respect 1s further enhanced by com- paring results in the writer's possession with cuts from La Marmora (steel) and ‘Tyndale (wood) of a singular row of vert!- cal cones of stone, known as the pedras marmurados de Tamult, a few miles to tho west of Macomer. Two or three of these bear, a few inches from the top, pro- teberances roughly resembling the human female breast. In La Marmora, the beau- tifully executed steol engraving shows « ‘sort of cartridge broken out with two warta; and Tyndale’s tHlustration is entirely mats leading.
If the end for which the nuragh! were ori- sinally destined is still open to controversy, no less doubt continues to hang about the question as to who bullt them. The philo- logical speculations of Petit-Radel and oth- ors, the strictly Bibiteal turn of Spanc Sumentative ethnology, and the still more elaborate historical researches of contempo- ary scholars tend to inspire the unlearned
with due respect, but also with prudent re- serve, for all these doctors do most hope- Jesaly disagree. There is nothing in these dulldings, save the nature of thelr construc- tlon, the bronze tools or instruments and the grotesque idols (or figurines) discovered tn fairly large numbers among the ruins, that can serve to decide approximately the epoch of bullding or the builders. It seems pos- sible, according to the best authorities, to connect the nuragh! historically with the Talajotz (or Talaxots) of Mallorca, which resemble them in shape and position. And a leading archeologist, of another order, told the present writer that towers of similar construction may still be seen among the al- ‘most unvisited Islands of the Aegean. The ordinary traveller will be quite content to remain unfixed in the nebula of hypothesis; for him, it ts sufficient to know that, in the im distance of that prehistoric past, there lived on the island a race capable, like the Sardes of Vittorio Emanuele's day, of assert- ing their rights to have and to hold what thelr industry had made their own. But this Sardinian determination to preserve, in the midst of Italian unity, a distinctive ethnical ‘and soctal character has also the advantage of fostering the prehistorte tradition of con- sideration and hospitality to the stranger. ‘While warmly thanking Dr. Arnaldo Capra (ibrarian at Cagliar!) and Dr. the Rev. Filippo Nissardi, Vittorio Fins! (librarian ‘at Sassari), together with thelr assistants, for much more than official courtesy and Kdndness, the writer would also include in ‘is gratitude the many unnamed Sardinians chance acquaintances, innkeepers, and Peasante—whose attentions stimulated the interest of study by reducing the dimculties of travel in a beautiful country little trod- den by the tourist. PTL
‘THR PARIS EXPOSITION.—VI. ‘THE FORRION FINE-ART SECTIONS.
Lonpon, July, 1900,
If all roads lead to Rome, it 1s certain that all good picturee—by Continental artiste— find thelr way to the two Salons. The for- eign sections at the Grand Palais des Beaux- Arts, if I except the American, have little to show that 1s not known, little that can come as a surprise. The work has almost all been seen in Parts at one time or another, though, of course, now that it 1s collected together according to countries, certain na- tlonal characteristics are more sharply marked. Art s not an affair of nationality, 4t ts true; but only the greatest artists re- main uninfiuenced by accidents of race and climate and environment.
‘As far as space 1s concerned, Germany, Austria, and Great Britain fare no botter than the United States. Unable to make an exhaustive display, the Germans and Aus- trians seem to have determined to show how fan exhibition should be arranged. Their rooms are interesting, less because of what ts in them than because of their scheme of arrangement and decoration. There is no doubt that Mr. Whistler, whon he startled London by paying some attention to the color of the walls and the distribution of light tn th gallery of the British Artists who bad made him thelr President, was the first to explain that tho beauty and effect of an exhibition as a whole should be con- sidered no less than the quality of individ- tual pictures, ‘The same principle was ac-
cepted by the International Soctety, of which ho 1s now President, and the two shows at Knightabridge havo given an example to the world, Certainly, they have had thoir in- ‘uence on the Germans, who contributed to them, and who now, in Paris, bavo built up series of beautiful rooms, decorated, one {tn green, another in red and gold, separated by a little hall with alcoves and marble col- tumns, There are rich hangings, wide couch- 0 aro sot out as ine drawing-room, green plants in tubs, bronzes, and pedestals are soattored here and there, and you have a Dleasant sense of not being in an exhibition gallery, but In a palatial apartment where pletures happen to be among the treasures. ‘The only trouble ts that the scheme of deco- ration 1s too gorgeous, it 1s overdone, as it 4s also in the German pavilion, Ornament ts led upon ornament, with heaviness as the Fesult, But, on the other hand, the pictures gain by the arrangement. They havo an alr of belng something fine, the careful hanging Points to thelr importance, and Y was struck with the fact that ft lends distinction to the most commonplace. A portrait that even fat the International in London was a blot on the otherwise beautiful walls, here be- comes not only unobjectionable, bat almost impressive,
However, it 1s just as well the collection should borrow Importance somewhere, for, 4m ttaelf, it has no great merit to recom- mend it’ There are but two small water- colors by Menzel; Stuck’s labored mysticism has long since become tedious; the series of portraits by Lenbach prove bow seldom his work 1s worthy of his reputation; there 1s 4 not very distinguished Liebermann, a still less alstinguished Von Unde, and, really, when I have said this, I have sald all that need be sald. Kilnger stays away, and so does Arnold Bécklin, who, by now, seems ess Swiss than German. There is no sign of the Muntch Secession, and, as tn the other sections, no effort to introduce new men. Altogether, the decorations, despite their splendor, cannot conceal the poverty of the work for whlch they are tho background.
It is the same tn the Austrian section, though bere the arrangement, while as charming, ts tar simpler: in color, @ cool gray that 18 very pleasant and restful to the eye. But if there ts no heaviness, no ex- aggerated gorgeousnoss, the detail in the friere, in the hangings, in the general ‘scheme, has a touch of the pecullar affec- tation of ornament that has gone forth from England, chiefly by way of the studio, all over Europe. I shall never forget the house of an aspiring Belgian to which I wont last summer, where the paper on the walls, the carpets, the chairs, the tables, the pictures, the brassee—everything was modelled ap- parently upon the English “Arts and Crafta- men,” with, as result, an aggressiveness, a Jumpiness, a jumble of ornament that made one long for the restraint and severity of the old mahogany and horsehair period. There is nothing of this kind in the Aus- trian rooms, but only the tendency, the warning of what might happen were the ac- cepted schemes carried a little further. On the cool gray walls, the pictures are hung with the utmost taste, well spaced, and never crowded, But there is not one you can feel any particular desire to look at « second time, A room is reserved for Hun- gary; and the Hungarians, with that eager- nese which outrivals the Americans to do everything on tho biggest scale)on earth,
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