The art of painting aspires far more energetically toward national emancipation. In the present century, the modern French style affecting the antique presented a complete contrast with the German romantic school, which, in harmony with the simultaneous romantic reaction in the poetical world, returned to the sacred simplicity of the ancient German and Italian masters. Overbeck was in this our greatest master. Since this period, the two great schools at Munich and Dusseldorf, founded by Peter Cornelius, and whose greatest masters are Peter Hesz, Bendemann, Lessing, Kaulbach, etc., have sought a middle path, and with earnest zeal well and skilfully opposed the too narrow imitation of, and the medley of style produced by the study of, the numerous old masters on the one hand, and, on the other, the search for effect, that Gallic innovation so generally in vogue. Were the church again to require pictures, or the state to employ the pencil of the patriot artist in recording the great deeds of past or present times or in the adornment of public edifices, painting would be elevated to its proper sphere.--Germany has also produced many celebrated engravers, among whom Muller holds precedence. Lithography, now an art of so much importance, was invented by the Bavarian, Senefelder. The art of painting on glass has also been revived. In music, the Germans have retained their ancient fame. After Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, etc., have gained immense celebrity as composers. Still, much that is unnatural, affected, _bizarre_ and licentious has crept into the compositions of the German masters, more particularly in the operas, owing to the imitation of the modern Italian and French composers. A popular reaction has, however, again taken place, and, as before, in choral music, by means of the "singing clubs," which become more and more general among the people. The stage has most deeply degenerated. At the commencement of the present century, its mimic scenes afforded a species of consolation for the sad realities of life, and formed the Lethe in whose waters oblivion was gladly sought. The public afterward became so practical in its tastes, so sober in its desires, that neither the spirit of the actor nor the coquetry of the actress had power to attract an audience. The taste and love for art were superseded by criticism and low intrigues, the theatre became a mere political engine, intended to divert the thoughts of the population, of the great cities from the discussion of topics dangerous to the state by the all-engrossing charms of actresses and ballet-dancers. The Germans, although much more practical in the present than in the past century, are still far from having freed themselves from the unjust, unfitting, and inconvenient situation into which they have fallen as time and events rolled on.