dress, returning from their evening's pleasure, are
besought by poor people clustering around a soup stall and drop coin
into the insistent hands. The smoking caldron of soup in the center and
the circle of sharply differentiated faces form an admirable
composition, the apparently accidental lines of which play into a
dignified linear scheme. The "Two Sisters" reveals the influence of
Velasquez in its flat modeling and subtle characterization, and in its
atmospheric grays enlivened with geranium reds. Both of these pictures
indicate a modern temper of mind in the fluency of their technique and
the realism of their treatment together with the attention paid to the
tonal quality and to the character of the space composition. Kampf,
however, although a young man--he was born in 1864--has passed through
many phases of development which are recorded in his many-sided art. His
subjects range from the historical themes of his wall decorations at
Magdeburg and Aachen through portraiture in which he grasps characters
essentially diverse and suggests with unerring instinct the dominant
quality, scenes of labor as in his "Bridge-Building," scenes of
brutality and excitement as in his "Bull-fight," scenes from the drama
of the Biblical story, scenes of domestic life as in his delicately
humorous picture of the absorbed reader eating his breakfast with the
morning paper propped up in front of him, and scenes of peaceful
holiday-making among the poor as in his idyllic "Sunday Afternoon" which
shows a peasant boy playing his harmonicum under the trees, with his
old father and mother sitting by in placid enjoyment. Various as these
pictures are and closely as the manner has in each case been adapted to
the special subject, we nowhere miss the note of individuality, although
in such a portrait as that of the Kaiser, which was shown in America, it
unquestionably is subdued. Neither do we miss the note of locality. Born
at Aachen, Kampf is a true Rheinlander and one of his German critics
notes that we must look to this fact for the explanation of his special
qualities, declaring that without the Rheinlander's cheerfulness and
energetic temperament, and without the background of the ancient Rhenish
culture, he would be inconceivable. On the other hand his turning to
drama and romance for his inspiration speaks of his Duesseldorfian
training and his realism of representation allies him to Menzel. At
forty-two he was made president of the Roya