In the second place, there is a general idea in Europe that our people are not appreciative of the best art-work. This view is justified, perhaps, by the purchases of many American rich men, who have more money than taste. The impression is a traditional one, derived from our early days, and whether correct or not at the present time, it will be many years yet before it disappears. One thing is certain the crowds of visitors at the Exhibition spent more time in the art galleries than in any other buildings, and the greatest interest was shown by the people in the best pictures. Every constant observer noticed this with pleasure and pride. The same The same was true of the sculpture. The Italian domestic marbles were excellent of their kind, and attracted great attention; the sculptures belonging to a higher plane of art, ideal conceptions, were very bad of their kind, with only here and there a good one, and they were properly passed by with little notice. The British commissioners had taken great care that good artists only should secure places in their collection, and many works of the old English masters were exhibited. A small collection of water-colors, in which British artists lead the world, was also very interesting. The most valuable pictures exhibited were in the Spanish collection :—the works of numerous old masters, notably of Murillo, Rivera and Valasquez, contributed by the museum of Madrid, the most magnificent gallery in the world. With innumerable pictures of little merit, the French sent some which were admirable, all by modern, and mostly by living artists. One grand but horrible work, by Georges Becker, "Rizpah protecting the bodies of her sons from birds of prey," will be remembered as long, perhaps, by every visitor as any picture in Memorial Hall. The Gobelin tapestries, from Paris, showed a perfection of art beyond anything dreamed of by those who had never seen these productions in Europe. In the French department of the Main Building there were numerous tapestries, made by firms who offer them for general sale. The Gobelin works belong to the government of France, and their product is never in the market, except through the accidental necessities of the owners to whom they have been presented or have descended by inheritance. Of the paintings sent by German artists, those were most interesting which illustrated domestic life; the military tendency of German art has done nothing to raise its standard. The brilliant picture of Hans Makart, of Vienna, "Venice paying homage to Catterina Cornaro," was the special attraction of the Austrian gallery; there were a few other excellent pictures, but the greater number were of inferior merit. Among the immense collections of small pictures from Belgium and the Netherlands there were many gems, though one was obliged to pick them out from many more that were not gems. Sweden and Norway

sent some fine illustrations of northern scenery and a few quaint pictures of domestic life. The glories of the Italian collection, aside from the pretty domestic marbles, were the Florentine mosaics, rich, elaborate and beautiful, and the Castellani collection of antiquities-marbles, bronzes, etc. This remarkable collection covers a range of time from the early Etruscans, predecessors of Roman civilization, to the later Middle Ages. The paintings of Brazil, Canada and Mexico were interesting as showing the present condition of art in those countries. That of Mexico gives considerable promise, although, like that of Spain, it is trammeled by too strong religious tendencies in the choice of subject. Russia contributed some of the most interesting and a few of the most excellent paintings exhibited. Only a few really good pieces of sculpture by American artists were to be seen in the galleries, though there were more than a hundred specimens. Among our eight hundred paintings in oil and water, showing an average of merit lower than that shown by any European country, except, possibly, Italy, there were many, nevertheless, that were very beautiful. A number of American artists who have studied in the best schools of art abroad, now hold places in the upper ranks, and a few of those at home, with less advantages for study, stand equally high. In the matter of landscape painting much American work compares favorably with the best of foreign work. The collection at Philadelphia showed a marked tendency in our art towards the higher plane of figure and historical painting. The American water-colors were, in many cases, admirable; and we have a fair prospect of standing second to England, if not at her side, in this line of painting. Until, however, American artists, as a class, are willing and eager to pass long years in the most arduous study and constant practice, as those of Europe do, before attempting to produce pictures for public exhibition and sale, our native work cannot claim a high position in the world of art. Including all classes of works belonging to the Department of the Fine Arts, the figures are as follows: 1,909 | Austria Russia

United States

British Empire:

177 Denmark

90 China 294 Japan. 537 Hawaii 147

58

Brazil

Argentine Republic... 291 Mexico

172

5,157

17

9

50

9

29

42

41

In the department of Fine Arts were exhibited, also, many engravings, architectural drawings and designs for internal decorations-the best of the latter

two classes coming from English, and the greatest number from American, contributors. The most interesting photographs came from the Royal Belgian Society of Photography, and illustrated the weird productions of the Belgian painter Wiertz. Nearly three hundred exhibitors appeared in the Photographic Building, near Memorial Hall; about one-half of these were from foreign countries. With admirable specimens from many nations, our own photographers held their own in the use of the camera and its attendant chemicals.

THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING AND THE WOMAN'S PAVILION.

Having considered, in more or less detail, according to the space at our command and the relative importance of the various subjects, nearly all the departments under which the articles exhibited at the great fair were classified, the two buildings here named deserve a special paragraph, as features peculiar to the Exhibition. The United States government has received great praise, abroad and at home, for its admirable display of matters in which a government is specially interested. The Ordnance, Naval, Military, Meteorological and Engineering departments were represented by arms, machinery and scientific apparatus. Machinery for producing cartridges and small-arms was in constant operation, in sight of the visitors, during the entire six months. In one corner of the building a model post-office was established for the convenience of exhibitors, officers and strangers. The Patent Office Department sent thousands of the mechanical models which are making the building at Washington, under our system of patent laws, one of the most valuable museums in the world. There were cabinets of birds, animals and fishes; ethnological collections, illustrating the habits and dress of aboriginal Americans, and the antiquarian relics before referred to. Outside of the principal building, besides the hospital, lighthouse, fog-signal and transit of Venus buildings, there there were wagons, ambulances and pontoon bridges; postal-cars used for the fast mail trains; and a field-telegraph train, with a portable wrought-iron signal-tower, seventyfive feet in height. The Women's Pavilion, though a disappointment to those who hoped for an appropriate illustration of the real work which self-sustaining women are now doing in this and all other countries, contained a pretty display of embroideries, carving, painting, decoration and other fancy work, executed by women in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Brazil. The embroidery contributed by the Royal School of Art Needle-work, of London, was admirable-bold in design and of careful execution. Some of