Author: W. Wheeler

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-07-04

Total Pages: 72

ISBN-13: 9781330708903

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Excerpt from Catalogue of Pictures and Historical Relics Renowned as is the Exhibition of Madame Tussaud and Sons for its unique collection of Portrait Models, it is not less remarkable for its historical relics and its artistic treasures, the gradual accumulation of more than a century. Under the latter head it is particularly rich in works by French masters of the revolutionary and post-revolutionary periods. English masters, indeed, are not unrepresented; and there are, among older masters of various schools, examples of Rubens and Sir Peter Lely. But it is by its specimens of French painters that the Exhibition, in an artistic sense, makes its strongest claim to consideration. It possesses quite a series of portraits by David, the great master of the Revolution and the First Empire, to whom, though his work may have suffered from a too rigid adherence to the canons of classicism, both History and Art are nevertheless under deep obligation for his striking presentments of so many of his great contemporaries. Most of the portraits ill the Napoleon room are from the pencil of this enthusiast, who, happily for posterity, found no difficulty in transferring his idolatry from a Robespierre to a Bonaparte. To the engraver's art, again, justice is done by many fine pictures of events in the career of Napoleon. As to sculpture, it is enough to name the great Thorwaldsen, whose magnificent bust of the Man of Destiny is one of the choicest treasures of the Exhibition. Of the Historical Relics, one may say that on this side, too, the Exhibition is specially rich in mementoes of Napoleon and of that revolutionary whirlwind which he put into leash, and upon which he rode to supreme power. Voltaire, whose deadly attacks upon established formulas prepared the way for the overthrow of an effete regime, and Robespierre, who reaped where the great master of mockery had sown, are both represented by characteristic belongings of theirs, the one by a combination armchair and reading-desk, the other by lethal weapons. Of the Bastille also there are several relics. But the most impressive memorial of the great upheaval is the original guillotine, the instrument of death first to the royalists, then to successive factions of the revolutionaries themselves. Not until its abhorred blade had cut the threads of twenty thousand lives was this gruesome machine superseded. The chief glory of the collection, however, is the Napoleon relics. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Download or read book Catalogue of Pictures and Historical Relics (Classic Reprint) written by W. Wheeler and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-07-04 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Catalogue of Pictures and Historical Relics Renowned as is the Exhibition of Madame Tussaud and Sons for its unique collection of Portrait Models, it is not less remarkable for its historical relics and its artistic treasures, the gradual accumulation of more than a century. Under the latter head it is particularly rich in works by French masters of the revolutionary and post-revolutionary periods. English masters, indeed, are not unrepresented; and there are, among older masters of various schools, examples of Rubens and Sir Peter Lely. But it is by its specimens of French painters that the Exhibition, in an artistic sense, makes its strongest claim to consideration. It possesses quite a series of portraits by David, the great master of the Revolution and the First Empire, to whom, though his work may have suffered from a too rigid adherence to the canons of classicism, both History and Art are nevertheless under deep obligation for his striking presentments of so many of his great contemporaries. Most of the portraits ill the Napoleon room are from the pencil of this enthusiast, who, happily for posterity, found no difficulty in transferring his idolatry from a Robespierre to a Bonaparte. To the engraver's art, again, justice is done by many fine pictures of events in the career of Napoleon. As to sculpture, it is enough to name the great Thorwaldsen, whose magnificent bust of the Man of Destiny is one of the choicest treasures of the Exhibition. Of the Historical Relics, one may say that on this side, too, the Exhibition is specially rich in mementoes of Napoleon and of that revolutionary whirlwind which he put into leash, and upon which he rode to supreme power. Voltaire, whose deadly attacks upon established formulas prepared the way for the overthrow of an effete regime, and Robespierre, who reaped where the great master of mockery had sown, are both represented by characteristic belongings of theirs, the one by a combination armchair and reading-desk, the other by lethal weapons. Of the Bastille also there are several relics. But the most impressive memorial of the great upheaval is the original guillotine, the instrument of death first to the royalists, then to successive factions of the revolutionaries themselves. Not until its abhorred blade had cut the threads of twenty thousand lives was this gruesome machine superseded. The chief glory of the collection, however, is the Napoleon relics. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.