FINE ARTS. MR. JOSEPH'S BUSTS.
Tuts interesting collection of busts of private individuals and public men consists principally of eminent Scotch characters, but includes also several of those of England. Mr. Joseries style of modelling is bold and vigorous ; and might be censured for a deficiency of refinement, were it not for the strong individual character and resemblance which dis- tinguish his busts. He appears to aim at producing a faithful likeness, not only by imitating the general style of the head and cast of features, but by marking distinctly those peculiarities of face which so much assist in conveying an identical impression of portraiture. At the same time, he particularly observes the precise development of the cranium, both in form and size, as well as the exact modulation of the fines in the face, so far as is consistent with truth, without embodying actual deformity.
Mr. JOSEPH'S bust of the King we do not like; and we cannot wonder that he should not succeed in the flattery of his art. CHANTRY'S bust, like LAWRENCE'S portrait, will bear the palm for favourable resemblance. Dr. CHALMER'S massy head is perk's' on his shoulders with an air any- thing but characteristic of the man or his manner ; which spoils a well- modelled bust of ahead full of striking character, yet difficult of succesful imitation in sculpture. DUGALD STEWART'S is a very remarkable phy- siognomy, and his venerable countenance makes a fine and striking bust. ALISON'S also is a compact, intellectual head ; and the veteran MAC- KENZ IE, is a personification of extreme old age, whose sunken features are illumined by the lamp of intellect that yet burns brightly in the tot. tering tenement. Mr. JEFFREY'S acute look, sarcastic mouth, elevated chin, and smart manner, are a contrast to the former, to whom his bust is next neighbour. Of the artists, the bust of WILKIE disappointed us rather ; that of JACKSON is excellent ; and that of Sir THOMAS Law- RENCE is decidedly the best we have seen of him. It is strikingly like the portrait by himself, except where the sculptor has avoided the self- flattery of the artist, and rendered the nose and mouth more like the life. It is a noble head, with intellectual character, and a slight tinge of melan- choly, without that mental decrepitude which characterizes all the other busts ; and which, however, the sculptors were almost justified in ex- pressing in a posthumous bust, modelled from the cast of the features after death, than which nothing can be more wretchedly melancholy. It is painful to look upon. Thebust of FLAX MAN differs in expression from JACKSON'S celebrated portrait of him ; the solemnity of expression in which seemed to veil the personal character of the man with the mantle of genius. This bust has a Miltonic character, partaking not only of the poetical, but the controversial temperament, particularly in the nose and mouth. The bust of STOTHARD is a likeness so strongly marked as to verge on caricature. The head of Mr. PEnwes,the engineer, possesses a most remarkable development : the frontal bone seems more like a cap to the forehead than a part of the cranium; the countenance, also, has a deeply reflective character. Mr. Las T o N's bust will strike every body; and a very clever one of Monsieur ALEXANDRE, in character, deserves parti- cular admiration for the vigour of marking, and the animated spirit of the imitation. It must have been a very difficult task to seize and embody in clay the expression of a stage-mimic in a dramatic persona. tion.
We have not passed over the ladies, but left them to the last. The
delicately beautiful features and sweet expression of Miss MARGARET ALISON, Mrs. WILLIAM RUSSEL, and the lovely countenance of Lady Eetson CAMPBELL, will win more admirers perhaps than even such men as DAVIES GILBERT, Mr. SELBY, the late Sir HUMPHRY DAVY, GEORGE RENNIE, and Doctors BARCLAY, GREGORY, and CAMPBELL, Professor LESLIE, CHARLES KEMBLE, or any other of the public characters, whose busts stand in the sculptor's gallery. Mr. JOSEPH has commenced a series of small busts of some of those eminent men whose names we have enumerated, to be executed in oronze.
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