Mr. Haydon has completed his _Xenophon_ and _the_ 10,000 _first seeing the
Sea from Mount Thèches_--a brilliantly glowing page of Grecian heroism,
and a splendid specimen of the highest order of historical painting. It
represents the celebrated retreat of the 10,000 valorous Greeks, with
Xenophon at their head, whose only hope of release from one of the most
perilous situations--was to reach the sea. The action of the picture is
thus described by the artist:
"This, of course, was accepted--they altered their course, and, while the
army was in full march over Mount Thèches, the advanced guard, in coming
to the top, came suddenly in view of a magnificent valley, with the SEA in
the extreme distance, glittering along an extended coast, and mingling
with the hazy horizon!
"The whole guard burst out into a furious shout of enthusiastic exultation
the SEA! the SEA! was echoed along the whole army, below in the passes;
Xenophon, from the uproar, thinking they were attacked, galloped forward
with the cavalry;[1] but seeing the cause, joined in the shout! The
feeling was too powerful to be resisted--men, women, and children, the
veteran, the youth, the officer, the private, beasts of burden, cattle,
and horses, broke up like a torrent that had burst a mountain rock, and
rushed, headlong to the summit!
"As each, in succession, lifted his head up above the rocks, and really
saw the SEA, nothing could exceed the affecting display of gratitude and
enthusiastic rapture!--some embraced, some cried like children, some
stamped like madmen, some fell on their knees and thanked the gods, others
were mute with gratitude, and stared as if bewildered!
"Never was such a scene seen! as soon as the soldiers recovered something
like reason, a trophy on a heap of stones and shields, was erected. The
army descended the Colchian Mountains, and reached Trapezus, the modern
Trebizon, after a march of 1,155 leagues, during two hundred and fifteen
days, where they embarked for their native country.
"The moment I have taken is when Xenophon seeing the sea has rode forward
to shout it to the army. He is waving his helmet with one hand, and
pointing to the sea with the other, mounted on a skew-bald charger.
"Below the army are rushing up--in the centre is an officer, on a blood
Arab, carrying his wife. A veteran soldier on his left is supporting an
exhausted youth who has sunk on his shield, and pointing out the path to
the army. On the right, is a young man carrying up on his back his aged
father who has lost his helmet--the trumpeter lower down, is blowing a
blast to collect the rear guard which are mounting behind him, while near
the mare's head is the Greek band with trumpets and cymbals encouraging
the men. The army is rushing up under an opening of the rock to the left,
while the advanced guard of cavalry are trotting down the shelving top of
a precipice, the horses excited and snuffing up the sea air with ecstasy."
It would, however, be difficult to convey, by description, the
overpowering energy and mighty struggle of the scene before us, or the
masterly skill with which the painter has brought within a few square feet
of canvass, one of the most astounding events in the history of man. Its
moral tendency should be a lasting lesson of the secret spring of
honourable success in life--decision of character and well-directed
energies to accomplish great ends--though applicable to every station of
life, however humble.
Xenophon is a distant figure in this effective picture: his action, as
well as that of the cavalry, about him is admirably expressed: he appears
on the pinnacle of triumph; his charger snuffs the very gale of glory, and
the uncurbed energy of exultation seems to animate those immediately
around him. The eye descends to the checkered toil beneath: the brawny
soldier bearing the delicate form of his lovely wife, which is well
contrasted with the bold, muscular figure of the former: the exhausted
youth, and the veteran directing the army, but especially the former, are
finely drawn and painted: the bare head of the aged man, with his few last
locks fluttering in the wind, contrasts with the burly-headed trumpeter,
whose thick throat and outblown cheeks denote the energy which he is
throwing into this last inspiring call to victory over difficulty. The
head of the soldier's blood Arab is one of the finest studies of the group:
you almost see the breath of his nostrils; the hinder parts and tail of
the horse are not quite of equal merit. These are but a few of the points
of excellence in the picture: its colouring is censurable for its
roughness, especially by those who enjoy the smoothly-finished productions
of certain British artists; but we may look to such in vain for the
powerful drawing and forcible expression which characterize this, the
finest of Mr. Haydon's pictures.
In the same room, _vis a vis_ the _Xenophon_, is the _Mock Election_
picture described at some length in No. 304, of _The Mirror_. About the
walls are thirteen finished sketches and studies also by Mr. Haydon. We
may notice them anon.
[1] Recently formed.
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