ÉCOLE FRANÇAISE. oooooo DELORME. 000000-CABINET PARTICULIER

HÉRO ET LÉANDRE.

Les scènes de tendresse, celles surtout qui semblent être la suite d'un grand sentiment, inspirent un grand intérêt et sont répétées avec plaisir par les artistes.

Héro, prêtresse de Vénus, était aimée de Léandre à tel point que chaque jour il faisait à la nage un trajet de deux lieues pour aller d'Abydos, où il demeurait, à Sestos, où se trouvait Héro.

M. Delorme, dans le tableau que nous donnons ici, a représenté Léandre au moment où il vient d'entrer dans l'intérieur de l'appartement d'Héro, et tandis qu'il la presse entre ses bras, sa bien-aimée verse des parfums sur ses longs cheveux encore imprégnés de l'eau de la mer, afin de leur donner plus de douceur et une odeur plus agréable. Les détails de la chambre, qui est ouverte dans le fond du tableau, indiquent assez quels motifs engagent Héro à prendre tant de soin de Léandre.

Ce tableau, qui parut au salon de 1814, a été gravé par M. Laugier.

Haut., 2 pieds; larg., 3 pieds.

FRENCH SCHOOL. eco DELORME. oooooo PRIVATE COLLECTION.

HERO AND LEANDER.

Scenes of tenderness, especially those which flow from a master-passion excite deep interest, and are such as artists love to repeat.

Hero, priestess of Venus, was so fondly loved by Leander, that he every day swam across the Hellespont, two leagues from his abode at Abydos, to Sestos where dwelth his adored Hero.

M. Delorme, in the picture we give here, represents Leander at the moment after he has entered into the interior of Hero's apartments, while he his pressing her in his arms, and his beloved pouring perfumes on his long flowing locks, to sweeten and purify them from the sea-water with which they are impregnated. The minutia of the open chamber in the back-ground of the picture, evidently indicates why Hero bestows such care on her Leander.

This picture, which was exhibited at the Louvre in 1814, has been engraved by Mr. Laugier.

Height, 3 feet 2 inches; breadth, 2 feet 2 inches

The Athenians, jealous of the Thebans, were anxious for a hero who could support a comparison with Hercules; their poets consequently added fictions to the history of Theseus, and of a real being they made almost an imaginary character.

It is not our intention to relate all the adventures that succeeded each other during the earliest years of Theseus's life, who was the son of Ægeus, king of Athens, and at whose birth it is pretended Neptune assisted, as Jupiter assisted at the birth of Hercules. We shall only mention, that when Theseus was present at the marriage of Pirithous and Deidamia, Eurythus, one of the Centaurs offered violence to the young bride. Theseus, to avenge the honor of his friend, hurled Eurythus to the earth and destroyed him.

Canova, in this group, has represented Theseus endued with as much beauty as strength; he combats without rage, he triumphs without effort. The Centaur, on the contrary, is unable to resist the weight with which his adversary overwhelms him, he is not yet dead but upon the point of expiring; his only remaining strength is in his hind legs; it is confidently asserted, that the sculptor, not finding a model in the antique, caused a strong horse to be strangled, in order that he might see and correctly give the last moments of a dying animal.

It is believed that about 5,600 pounds sterling were given for this fine group. The emperor of Austria, anxious to gratify the desire Canova had expressed relative to the manner in which his work ought to be placed, constructed for it on the walk of the rampart at Vienna, near the imperial palace, a small temple, in imitation of the temple of Theseus at Athens. Height, 8 feet 6 inches.