The Centennial collection is 2 sort of corollary to the splendid display at the 1889 Exhibition. It is not absolutely representative of French art for the past hundred years, for the simple reason that not a single one of the works exhibited in 1889 is to be found in it. This omission is, of course, voluntary, Even if it had been possible to bring together the counterpart of the 1889 display, the result would have been wanting in originality, and the 1900 selection would have been treated as a pale copy of its predecessor. The organisers of the Centennial collection, therefore, included only such works as were not shown at the last Exposition Universelle. The great bulk of the collection consists of works by men who are nearly, but not quite, great, and are comparatively unknown to those who have not made a special study of French art. The great value of the Centennial is, in fact, that it brings many hidden measures into the light of day, and gives the visitor an unique opportunity of extending his knowledge of the subject. The collection is a remarkable proof of the richness and vitality of French art.
THE GREAT PAINTERS, To begin with the great painters, David is represented by a wonderful portrait of Mme. Vigée-Lebran—far more lifelike than the well-known representation of the same lady in the Louvre—and several other fine portraits, a sketch of Napoleon in his coronation robes, and a very tragical "Ugolino." There is a very good collection of paintings by Ingres. First of all is his celebrated "Vow of Louis XII," a masterly but somewhat cold historical revival. The faces of the Court ladies might have been painted by an artist of their own time. "The Dauphin, afterwards Charles V, entering Paris" is another important picture of the same kind. Hard by, are some of the finest specimens of Ingres' portraits, such as "Madame de Senones" (from' thy Nantes museum), Madame de Broglie" and "Madame' de Panckoucke," and a woman's head, painted by Ingres on a studio wall and cut out by one of his admirers, just as the Laird endeavoured to do with Little Billee's sketch of Trilby's foot. There are eight pictures by Delicroix, and at least two of them are worthy to rank among best. The "St. Sebastian" is intensely tragic, and "Greece expiring on the ruins of Missolonghi" is full of the poetry of melancholy. There are four Greuzes, including an almost unknown "Egina' and Jupiter," discovered in a small private collection.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.