ALLAN MAC-AULAY.

It is from a romance by Walter Scott, the Soldier of fortune, that M. Horace Vernet has taken the subject of this picture, and although the works of the celebrated Scotch-writer are easily to be found; yet we believe that our readers will not be displeased at our reminding them, that the mother of MacAulay lost her senses in seeing the head of her brother, which had been set before her, by a band of ruffians, called the children of the mist. The presence of her son was the only consolation that this unfortunate mother felt, and when upon the point of death, she unquestionably entreated her son to revenge the death of his uncle. From that time Mac-Aulay passed his days and nights in the woods. In fine, after long searching, he fell in with the chief of the children of the mist, and decapitated him.

The head of Allan is full of energy, and M. Horace Vernet, in this little picture, has effectively depicted the ferocity of the Scottish mountaineers, of whom sir Walter Scott speaks so energetically in his works.

Height, a feet 2 inches; breadth, 1 foot 9

inches.

MAZEPPA

MAZEPPA.

Voltaire rapporte qu'après la bataille de Pultava, Charles XII, roi de Suède, fuyait avec quelques officiers dont faisait partie Mazeppa, prince de l'Ukraine. Il ajoute que ce prince avait été, dans sa jeunesse, page du roi de Pologne, Jean Casimir; mais que, pour le punir d'une intrigue amoureuse, il avait été attaché sur un cheval sauvage qui, avec la rapidité de l'éclair, se mit à fuir dans la forêt d'où il avaît été tiré la veille.

Lord Byron, ajoutant quelques fictions à ce fait, rapporte toutes les circonstances des amours et du long supplice de Mazeppa; puis il le représente traversant une forêt. Mes liens, dit-il, étaient si bien serrés que je ne pouvais craindre une chute. Nous passâmes au travers comme le vent, laissant derrière nous les taillis, les arbres, et les loups que j'entendais accourir sur nos traces. Ils nous poursuivaient en troupes avec ce pas infatigable qui lasse souvent la rage des chiens et l'ardeur des chasseurs; ils ne nous quittèrent même pas au lever du soleil. Je les aperçus à peu de distance lorsque le jour commença à éclairer la forêt, et, pendant toute la nuit, j'avais entendu le bruit de plus en plus rapproché de leurs pas. »

La lecture de cette nouvelle de lord Byron a pu inspirer à M. Horace Vernet l'idée de son tableau; mais il fut aussi entraîné à faire ce tableau par le désir de mettre en scène les études qu'il venait de faire d'après un jeune loup qu'il avait dans son jardin.

L'auteur a donné ce tableau à la ville d'Avignon où était né son aïeul Joseph, Vernet. Il est placé dans le Musée Calvet, et a été gravé en mezzotinte par M. Jazet.

Larg., 3 pieds 6 pouces? haut., pieds?

Voltaire relates that after the battle of Pultawa, Charles XII, King of Sweden, fled with a few officers, among whom was Mazeppa, Prince of Ukraine. He adds, that this Prince had, in his youth, been a page to the King of Poland, John Casimir; but that as a punishment for some amorous intrigue, he had been tied to a wild horse, which fled, with the rapidity of lightning, through the forest where he had been caught the preceding day.

Lord Byron, adding a few fictions to this fact, relates all the particulars of the loves and long sufferings of Mazeppa; then he represents him crossing the forest.

We rustled through the leaves like wind,
Left shrubs, and trees, and wolves behind,
By night I heard them on the track,
Their troop came hard upon our back,
With their long gallop, which can tire
The hound's deep hate, and hunter's fire:
Where'er we flew they followed on,
Nor left us with the morning sun;
Behind I saw them, scarce a rood

At day-break winding through the wood,
And through the night had heard their feet

Their stealing, rustling step repeat. »

The reading of this Tale, by Lord Byron, may have inspir ed M. Horace Vernet with the idea of the present picture; but he was also induced to it by the wish of embodying the studies he had made from a young wolf he had in his garden.

The author has given this painting to the Town of Avignon, where his grand-father, J. Vernet, was born. It is placed in the Calvet Museum, and has been engraved in mezzotinto by Jazet. Width, 3 feet 8 inches; height, 2 feet 1 inch.