The Graphic 21 Jan. 1882 p. 54. Types of Beauty – VII.

The Female head engraved as our extra supplement this week is series from the picture by M. Paul Baudry and forms the first of the series of types of feminine beauty which were painted by six well-known French artists for the proprietors of The Graphic. These were exhibited in the Graphic Gallery side by side with the idealistic beauties painted by British artists who had executed a similar , commission and the two collections afforded an opportunity for contrasting not only the different ideas of beauty entertained by the two nations, but also the varied styles of treatment by their respective schools of painters. Englishmen visiting the Paris Salon after the Royal Academy are usually struck with the great difference in taste shown by the various figure artists in their portrayal of female beauty. beauty. As a rule--for of course there are exceptions--the Gallic ideal is less simple  than the British, and the heads of "blushing sixteen" and '' sweet seventeen" are either replaced by more florid and Rubens-like damsels whose beauty is sought to be of heightened by the aid of carefully-studied costumes and accessories, or by pale, refined and almost pained-expression faces, such as might satisfy an aesthete of the most advanced school. That indescribable charm about a young girl just budding into womanhood which both English poets, as well as English artists, so love to depict, is not realised in France. Immured in a convent or a school, or kept back practically in the the nursery, young girls are not permitted the freedom which they possess in England, and are generally looked upon as mere school hoydens until they marry. Consequently they are by no means encircled with the halo of romance which is necessary to inspire an artist with his ideal. This in France is reserved for the mature members of the fairer sex. Thus is the Art of a country governed in a great measure by its customs. “It is a fine picture, but the young lady would be reckoned no beauty here” wrote a Madrid publisher to us respecting one of the English series, and it is manifest that not only every eye forms its own ideal, but that every nation forms its own especial conception of beauty. M. Baudry’s picture is appropriately entitled “Parisina,” for his model may be regarded as an essential type of Parisienne, lithe and slim in figure, and with pleasing pathos in her dark eyes, whose varied glances are capable of wreaking terrible mischief amongst her Parisian admirers. Capricious, frivolous, and laughter-loving as she may appear in the piping times of peace, she can be stern and determined in the hour of need, as the siege of Paris plainly evidenced. Indeed one of the chief features of that sad epoch was the wonderfully patient endurance of Parisian women of all classes under every species of trial and hardship.

The Graphic 8 April 1882 p. 338.

Types of Beauty No. VIII

M. Levy’s beauty, the second of the series Types of Beauty painted for the proprietors of The Graphic by French artists, is a far different damsel to the pale, refined-looking “Parisina” of M. Baudry, which we published some weeks since. M. Levy is evidently a disciple of Rubens; his beautiful woman is well-developed and florid, and savours rather of the robust Flemsh than of the slighter Gallic figure. As we have previously remarked, these two types seem the chief ideals of beauty in the mind of the French artist; and while one like M. Baudry paints his heroine attired as simply as possible, another will prefer to depict, like M. Levy in the picture before us the lady of his choice in highly-coloured garments and rich flashing jewels. A greater contrast than these two pictures can scarcely be imagined, and yet both are thoroughly representative of the French school.