ect of the
educated animal, appear with an intense and pitiless fidelity to the
fact which is of the essence of intellectual realism, but which could
equally have been achieved through the medium of words. In spite of a
cultivated color sense and a fine control over his instrument he was
from first to last essentially an illustrator. It was difficult for him
to omit any detail that would add to the piquancy or fulness of his
story, however much the omission might have done for his general effect.
He said himself, "There should be no unessentials for the artist," and
he advised his pupils to finish as much as possible and not to sketch at
all. This passion for completeness rarely accompanies a strong feeling
for the romantic aspects of nature or for atmospheric subtleties.
Neither does the painter who observes human nature closely and
represents it with a detailed commentary upon its characteristics
usually convey the impression of any subjective emotion.

Menzel is no exception to this rule. In his work he appears as
emotionless as a machine, but his accomplishment is not mechanical. It
is, on the contrary, the record of a busy, highly individualized,
accurate mind. A Berlin man, he had the alertness, the clear-cut
effectiveness, the energy, and the coldness typical of a cosmopolitan
product. If we compare his "Ball Supper" in which the glare of lights,
the elaboration of costume, the rapacity and shallow glittering
superficiality of a Court festivity are presented almost as though in
hackneyed phrases, so devoid is the picture of any meaning beyond the
obvious, with the "Steel Foundry" in which the unsentimental acceptance
of labor as a necessary factor in civilization is conspicuous, it is
clear that his mind was free from dreams and visions whichever side of
society he looked upon. In this respect his influence is salutary. It is
like a cool and wholesome breeze blowing away all miasmic vapors, and
there is a positively exhilarating quality in his firm assumption of the
power of the human being over his material. His workmen are men of
strong muscle and prompt brain. In the "Steel Foundry" we see their
efficient handling of the great bars of metal with admiration as we
should in life, and we note what in modern times is not always present
for notation, the intelligence and interest in their faces. In one
corner of the room, behind a screen or partition, a little group is
devouring luncheon. Here we strike once more t