Elektra takes a cup and approaches the tomb.
' Hermes ! prompt Messager qui monte d'un coup d'aile,
De la pale Prairie oil germe I'asphGdele
Jusqu'au pave d'or des Princes de I'Aither
A toi d'abord, Hermes le vin pur du Krater I '
She pours out the libation,
' Daimones tres puissants, Rois de la terre antique
Qui siegez cote a cote en son ombre mystique,
Toi, Dieu terrible, et toi qui fais germer les fleurs,
O Deesse ! ecoutez le cri de mes douleurs :
Faites que I'Atreide, errant dans Tllades bleme,
Exauce le diisir de son enfant qii I'aime ! '
M. Paul Mounet's Orestes was also a Hue specimen of dramatic
acting in word and gesture. Taken as a whole, and laying aside
certain incidental criticisms, it may be said that the recent reprise
of the Erinnyes was a most artistic performance, and has re-
minded Parisians that a great epic poet still dwells in their
midst.
M. Massenet's fairy-tale opera Esclarmonde will be brouglit
out at the end of the month. M. Ambroise Thomas, the composer of Migiion, Hamlet, and Francesca da Rimini, is superintending the rehearsals of his new ballet in three acts, Miranda ;
the scenario and libretto are taken from — Shakespeare's Tempest ! !
The Cerck de f Union artistique has recently taken possession of
its new house in the Champs Elysees ; one of the handsomest
parts of the mansion is the picture gallery, which can easily be
transformed into a pretty theatre. The annual exhibition of
pictures which has just been opened in this celebrated club-house
has offered a good opportunity of testing the light and decorative
effects of the new room ; both are perfect. As regards the exhibits,
they are numerous and interesting. Mr. Bridgman, the American
artist, has sent a pretty picture, entitled ' Our Little Garden at
Algiers ' ; Mr. Humphrey Moore, a new-comer, two clever
Japanese scenes ; Mr. Edelfelt, the Finland painter, two genre
pictures in the sober grey tones now so much in vogue. M.
Gerome's ' Qurerens quem devoret ' represents a rather tame-
poodle sort of lion wandering along what I suppose to be ' the Red
Sea shore,' in search of prey, — rather a strange hunting-ground for
the king of the desert. Meissonier contributes a highly-finished
cabinet picture, entitled ' An Author,' in which we see a gentle-
man in a semi-Venetian dress writing at a table covered with pon-
derous folios, figure and surroundings being in the best * Meissonier
style.' There are many good genre pictures and landscapes
— by Dagnan-Bouveret, Detaille, Beroud, Japy, and Pelouse.
Then there is the usual and annual contingent of portraits of
Parisian grandes dames and professional beauties by Clairin,
Courtois, Jalabert, and other fashionable portraitists. Two por-
traits of the late Cabanel are adorned with festoons of crape.
One of M. Bonnat's portraits is a decided mistake. Among
the sculpture exhibits I noticed a charming bust of the Countess
Zichy by M. Carles ; one of pretty Mile. Legault, of the Comedie
Francaise, by M. d'Epinay ; and a well-executed bronze medal-
lion of Cardinal Manning by Montefiore.
The Pastellistes have opened their fifth annual exhibition
(never was there such a year for art exhibitions), to which may be
applied the same laudatory and critical comments we made last
month with regard to the Aquarellistes. Plenty of very clever,
highly-finished work ; but, apart from the exhibits of Besnard,
Dagnan-Bouveret, and Puvis de Chavannes, a decided want of
originality. CECIL NICHOLSON.
Erratum. — In the Paris Causerie, in April issue, the name of
the French painter Claude Monet was, through an inadvertence,
given as Paul Monet.
ART NOTES FROM NEW YORK.
The New York Academy of Design opened its annual spring exhibition on Monday, April 1st, to the public. Friday previous had been varnishing day, and on Saturday night was held the reception. The collection is neither better nor worse than the preceding one, and contains one or two important large canvases — notably Mr. Hovenden's ' In the Hands of the Enemy,' and Mr. Edward E. Simmons's remarkably fine study of an English fisher- man and child. The former was sold on the opening day for 5500 dollars, and is an incident of the late war, a young Confederate soldier who has been wounded being cared for in a Union house- hold. Portraits by the President, Mr. Hantington, U. M. Chase, Vinton, Kenyon Cox, Denman, Porter, Rice, and Dewing ; figure pieces by Siddons Mowbray, J. G. Brown, Witt, Wiles, Hamilton Hamilton, and others ; while in landscapes, Harrison, George Inness, Harry Eaton, Bunner, Bogert, Eichelberger, and Bruce Crane, are the more prominent. Carleton Wiggins is represented by a large cattle picture of an October haze that attracts much attention. A departure that is a subject of much discussion is the devoting of one room entirely to portraits. The older school of American portrait-painters are here brought into immediate con- tact with the newer men from Munich and Paris, and opportunities for comparison are aflbrded as never before. Glasses over pictures are prohibited this year, with better results. The display of sculp- ture is small, but very creditable. Mr. St. Gauden's bas-relief of Robert Louis Stevenson is a very charming piece of character- work, and Mr. Warner's head of a young girl is quite up to his usual standard. Two heads, one of Mr. Edwin Booth, and one of Mr. Laurence Barrett, destined for the new Players' Club, are by J. I. Hartley. Mr. Elwell contributes a small head. Mr. Whistler has, at Wiinderlich's Gallery on Broadway, an exhibition of his work in the usual Whistlerian style. The room is hung in pale rose, a matting covers the floor, two wine-coloured vases rest quietly in the corner on pale rose stands, while on the walls, in frames of every decorative pattern, are hung a hundred or more water-colours, oils, and etchings. Several have been sold — a dozen at least, and the exhibition attracts but mild attention. The Erwin Davis sale at Ortga's Art Galleries is still the topic of much discussion in the New York papers. Mr. Davis offered at unreserved sale a large and important collection of oil-paintings by the most prominent of the French artists. There were examples by all the Fontainebleau school, and a large cattle piece by Troyon, Bastien Lepage's 'Joan of Arc,' a portrait by Manet, and pictures by Delacroix, Couture, and others. Two nights were devoted to the sale. The first evening resulted disastrously, the works in most cases being sacrificed. On the second night, however, the prices were something fabulous, one man, who concealed his identity, buying over one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars' worth. Twenty-four thousand dollars was paid for the 'Joan of Arc'; other prices were in proportion. The newspapers then began to investigate the matter, and the mysterious buyer turned out to be a clerk in the office of Mr. Davis. Public condemnation of such proceedings became so strong, and the newspapers attacked the affair with such force, that Mr. Davis came out with an explanation that he had ordered the pictures to be bought in, with a view of presentation of several to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Seventeenth Annual Exposition of the Chicago Inter-State Industrial Exhibition will open September 4th. Mr. Potter
