modern naturalist school. It is painted in monochrome,
on a silk ground of a soft brown colour, possiblj'
darkened a little by age into its present softness : the
birds are lightly rounded, just as in the modern work,
by a faint wash of colour, and the design shows a high
degree of artistic and poetic development, absolutely
astonishing to any one who reflects on the fact that this
spontaneous work, with its unconventional design and
drawing, was painted centuries before P2ngland had
anj- art of her own to speak of, and at a time when
even artistic Italy was still weltering in the throes of
archaism, and dominated by Byzantine symbolism.
Besides this there are two remarkable ' Kakemonos '
of the fifteenth century and one of the thirteenth, also
belonging to the Chinese school. They are named
respectively : — ' A Philosopher and his Disciples,'
' Vimalakirti,' — a famous Indian priest, — and the
' Three Rishis in the Wilderness.' In all three the
greatest intensity and individuality of expression pre-
vail in the faces ; the rest of the painting is flat, and
in some respects unfinished, especially the feet in the
' Philosopher and his Disciples ' ; but the look of
nobility and keenness, combined with the fidelity of
drawing and knowledge of form which are evinced, is
certainly not to be paralleled in any other of the
paintings exhibited in the Museum, whether by Chinese
or Japanese masters.
The greatest amount of spontaneity is conceded to
the ' moderns ' in all other directions ; and it is only
necessary to examine the work of the naturalist
painters to see that this is the fact. The ' Carp
Swimming,' by Okio, and ' Puppies at Play,' by the
same master ; ' The Troop of Monkeys in a Pine Tree,'
and other finished groups by Mori So-Sen, show this
beyond dispute, just as do the beautiful studies of
flowers and birds ; the graceful design of insects and
flowers, painted either on paper or silk, of which one,
'The Grasshoppei-'s Proces.sion,' is typical of the rest ;
the lovely Kakemonos of ' Mallards flying in the Moon-
light,' ' Sparrows,' and other little birds flying in
showers ; and the floral studies of which one, ' Plum
Blossom and a full Moon,' is but an exquisite sample.
It has ver}' little colour, only so much in fact of the
rose tint indicated as would be seen in the moonlight ;
the bare stem of the tree, crowded with half-opening
blossom, runs away in angular branches and curved
twigs, towards where the big moon sails, a pale and
luminous thing, in the mistily clouded sky.
But the finest of these 'hanging pictures' in point
of all round advance, in composition, in grace and
frankness of idea, in truth and suggestive beauty of
subtle colour, is the painting of ' Pea-Fowl in a Pine
Tree.' The two birds are perched in the branches of
a pine, whose dark acicular leaves hang in clusters
about them ; the birds themselves seem to be coquet-
ting together, for one bends his body over the bough
to regard his companion, while his tail, a glorious but
subdued suggestion of colour, sweeps and droops
around him ; and his little mate, less brilliant in her
plumage, nestling on the lower bough, looks up with
what can only be described as a very bird-like frank-
ness and piquancy of movement.
Mary RKEn.
References— TO the British Museum Collections. ' Wild Geese in the Rushes,' No. 2. ' Philosopher and Disciples,' No. 10. ' Vimalakirti,' No. 13, ' Three Rishis in the Wilderness,' No. 5. ' Storm Dragons,' Nos. 60 and 67. ' Plum Blossom and full Moon,' No. 52. ' Troup of Monkeys in a Pine Tree,' No. 102, also No. 96.' Birds flying in showers, Nos. 107, 109, 129. 'Pea Fowl and Pine Tree,' No. 105.'
1 For Nos. 96, 105, see also the fine plates reprocliicetl from the origina Kakemonos in Anderson's Pictorial Arts o/Ja/ian.
THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS.
(Winter Exhibition).
IN one of Mr. Edward Lear's delightful nonsense stories, — that wherein is chronicled the triumph of the Frog, the Plum-Pudding Flea, the Mouse, the Clangel- Wangel, and the Blue Boss-Woss, — it will be remembered that the parents of the forty-nine unfortunate offspring, ere pickling themselves in bottles with air-tight stoppers, took an affecting and formal leave of the whole of their acquaintance, ' which was very numerous and distinguished, and select, and responsible, and ridiculous.' This admirable phrase, so apt to the acquaintance of so many of us, is perfectly appropriate to the Royal Society of British Artists, It, alas. is very numerous, and select, and responsible, and ridiculous. Great was the jubilation in Suffolk Street last season when Mr. Whistler shook the dust of it from his feet, and departed mocking. Although it had changed to a painful collective grin by the time the younger men of genuine artistic calibre had followed suit, to the tune (d/lcgm, con nw/lo espressione) of the ex-President's ' The artists have left, but the British remain,' the splendid assurance of mediocrity prevented collapse. Forthwith the ' British ' elected as President a worthy gentleman whom the Fates intended for literature, but who accidentally fell a-painting.
