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Rh 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.

N 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.