Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/333

 Mexico to see that wonderful valley, if he could obtain those glorious paintings. The ceiling of the fifth and largest is adorned with medallions containing men famous in science and art. In the centre is a grand painting, one I have long desired to see placed upon canvas by an American descendant of the mother of the New World,—Columbus presenting the fruits of his first voyage to Isabella and Ferdinand. Such a Columbus, and such a queen! And the Indians, timorous, yet with their native dignity clothing them as with a mantle. They bring to mind the picture painted by the poet, where Madoc describes them to his friends in Wales:—

 What men were they? Of dark brown color, tinged With sunny redness; wild of eye; their brows So smooth, as never yet anxiety Nor busy thought had made a furrow there; Beardless, and each to each of lineaments So like, they seemed but one great family. Their loins were loosely cinctured, all beside Bare to the sun and wind; and thus their limbs, Unmanacled, displayed the truest forms Of strength and beauty."

At the farther end, by itself, as if worthy a special niche in this Mexican temple of fame,—as it is,—one sees the famous work of the young artist, Felix Parra, "Las Casas Protecting the Indians,"—Las Casas, good Bishop of Chiapas, whose life was passed fruitlessly fighting the enemies of the Indian. It must have been a genius of more than ordinary grasp (though it requires not much study to find a conception worthy one's highest effort in the history of oppressed Mexico) who could thus have pictured the immortal Bishop and his down-trodden people. It seems, indeed, that the Mexican artist succeeds best when he devotes himself to historic scenes, for which he has a rich field in the conquest of his own country. In the "Massacre in the Temple" we have a confirmation of this. How vividly he has succeeded in portraying the leading figures in that ruthless slaughter, when Alvarado, taking advantage of the absence of Cortes from the city, fell upon the Mexican nobles, their wives and children, and murdered them mercilessly.