The scout's Prize.
--This is the title of a painting, just completed by
Mr. Elder, now on public exhibition at
Davies's music store.
It is truly a noble work, and stamps the artist as a man of rare genius.
The whole story is told by a glance at the picture: a lonely bit of forest road, a furious snow storm, and a scout spurring on through it with a fury that shows he is pursued, but who seems cool and self-poised, holding a carbine in the firm clutch of his right hand, and leading the captured horse by the rein with his left.
That horse, a noble animal, bears the trappings of a Federal soldier; he has tried to outrun the slower horse of the scout, but a jerk of the rein has set him fretting and leaping, and a toss of his head has broken the martingale.
This is historical painting in its truest sense, and half a century hence will tell a story of the great war more truly than history ever will.
This is a thing that living men have seen, and not mere imaginary scenes from past history.
The accessories are painted in a masterly manner.
Snow scenes are the easiest to paint badly, and the hardest to paint well.
Here the snow already fallen on the ground and piles of brush, the veil of falling snow half obscuring a perspective of dreary forest, and the
drift of snow driving along the surface, are all beautifully rendered.
There are a fallen trunk and a white oak near the foreground, both of which are as fine pieces of tree-drawing as one would wish to see of a winter's day. But the charm is the
motion of the picture.
One almost expects to hear, at the next moment, the hoofs thunder on the little bridge ahead, or to see the wild black horse come leaping out of the canvass.
This is
Mr. Elder's masterpiece.
