r, it might have been
tolerated in another age and country, which took no offence at the
coarse manners of Dutch fairs and merrymakings, but we are not living
in the time of the _kermesses_, and Mr. Hamilton, moreover, is not a
Hollander, but a Philadelphian.

The contribution of Sweden, Norway and Denmark may be said to be, upon
the whole, less important than that of the United States, and to show,
perhaps, less ability in execution; but it has, upon the other hand, the
charm of local interest, which the American collection lacks. It is
refreshing to meet with these honest, simple little pictures of
Scandinavian life, with its typical faces and figures, its costumes and
interiors, all so little known to us, and so delightful from their
novelty. Amongst the Danish painters we may note especially the names of
Exner, Carl Bloch, Kroeger and Bache; and amongst the Swedes, those of
Zetterstein, Ross and Hagborg, who follow very closely, in manner and
composition, the German school of Duesseldorf.

Art is migratory. If she sojourns to-day in France, it is but as a guest
who reposes a while ere she continues her unceasing journey. This
reflection--with which we opened our rapid review of the Exhibition in
the Champ de Mars--haunts us especially as we linger in the galleries
devoted to Holland and Italy. Even in those favored lands, where Art
once seemed to have fixed her eternal abode, the inspiration of genius
is succeeded by the technical skill of the academician. There are
excellent sea-pieces, by Mesdag and Gabriel in the Dutch gallery, but
Italy, which has fairly crowded her allotted space with canvases, has
nothing to challenge our admiration except a few pretty genre pictures.
M. de Nittis--whom, by the way, we are apt to think of as a Parisian,
but who is, it appears, Neapolitan--exhibits a dozen pictures quite as
_modern_ in conception as the latest scenes from the comedies of Henri
Meilhac, and which will, one day, serve as valuable documents in the
authentication of the manners and costume of the present epoch.
Connoisseurs of the twenty-first century will curiously study our
cavalcades in Hyde Park or upon the Brindisi road, the return from the
races on the avenue of the Bois de Boulogne, and the hundred other
incidents of our every-day life, certified by the signature of Nittis.
Clear and brilliant, too, and full of movement and gayety, are the
compositions of MM. Michetti, Mancini and Delleani (_A Fete on the G