3-034-646 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Rehearsal", by A. Robert, in the International Exhibition, 1871. 'This is certainly one of the most humorous pictures in the Exhibition...So truthfully has the painter rendered the monkish character, so happily has he caught the gestures and expressions of the several faces, that you cannot help fancying you actually hear the notes emitted from those practised lungs and wide-gaping or firmly-set lips...The energy of the tenor is capitally depicted. Look at the ferocious knitting of his shaggy eyebrows and at the tension of the circular orifice into which he has composed his mouth for the production of a high note - that mode of delivery being, however, apt to engender a nasal twang. Very good, also, is the mild youth beyond, soaring, with his fresher timbre, easily to the alto, in a voice probably something between a boy's treble and a man's falsetto...Where the fault lies it is easy to see - we almost said to hear. It is to be seen by the agonised, appealing look of the leader of the choir, standing at the desk which supports the great illuminated service-books of the monastery, with his hand raised, beseeching moderation. It is also to be seen by the queer expression - half-annoyed, half-amused - of the ecclesiastic to the extreme right'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.