is devoted to the paintings by women. In art the eternal feminine," is coming well to the front in Her Majesty's reign. Close upon 450 paintings are shown, and not only are none of these below the average, but many of them are far above the average of artistic merit. In portraits women are especially happy whether these be real or ideal subjects. For with a woman the ideal she chooses to paint, tells its own story in the same magnetic manner as does the portrait from life. To mention a few artists is all that our space allows obviously. Early on the catalogue is the name of Miss Blanche Jenkins, who leaped into celebrity on the walls of the Royal Academy about twelve years ago, asa painter of children. Miss Jenkins has lost nothing in the daintiness of her touch. One canvas in particular, "'Nestly Bedtime," shows us a sleepy little girl sitting before the fire, evidently struggling hard to keep awake yet dreading to go to bed. The small face tells the droll contest of emotion with quaint clearness. An American Indy, Mrs. Anna Lea Merritt, has several excellent portraits. This Indy has had a hard fight in London, and her success gratifies her fellow country folk, perhaps even more than it does the people of the land of her adoption.
MRS. ALMA-TADEMA, hose name need no explanatory introduction to the world of Art, exhibits a study called "Self-help." Tt is a table spread with fruit, little red cheeked apples, evidently hastily poured on the uncovered deal board, from some gatherer's basket. A little curly head reaches just above the table, and the mischievous eyes of a bonnie little girl enviously devour the fruit, while her chubby hands clutch all she ca hold. She has indeed "helped herself," and means to steal away on tiptoe to devour that luscious fruit presently. One of the most
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.