"The halls of the Crystal Palace are filled to overflowing, the French
envoys are rudely bumped by the enormous boxes. At the exposition the
paintings reach to the very cornices, and there is even talk of hanging
some delayed canvases in the restaurant opposite, notably the _Casseur
de Pierres_ of Courbet. We must add, however, that Courbet has also
sent here a magnificent landscape, in which the water is so natural
and so deep that it makes one dream dreams. That, and the _Fauconnier_
of Couture, are the pictures that we love best in the French salon, in
spite of our lack of sympathy for the realistic school.
"The Germans, when they see Courbet's paintings, say, 'A painter
as good as he is rough, he sees like a peasant and paints like a
professor, which is saying a great deal,' they add laughing."
"Here I interpolate a sentence," said Villiers. "'It is late to speak
of the exposition,' and then I go on to speak of it all the same:
"One must also mention some exquisite grisailles of Ramberg, the _Saint
Joseph_ of Gysis, portraits by Lenbach, landscapes by Zwangauer, the
German Daubigny, some academic sepias of Kaulbach on subjects drawn
from Wagner's operas, and _The woman in the velvet Gown_, of Herr
Canon, a young Austrian painter of incomparable talent. It is thought
that _The Banquet of Phaton_ of Herr Anselm Feuerbach, will have the
medal of honour. It is great work, truly, and since Peter Cornelius,
nothing better has been done in Germany. So art is in a flourishing
condition.
"I am going to slip a new sentence in there," said Villiers. "'Let
us now leave the exposition, with its already old news, and take a
promenade through the city.'"