. FINE ARTS.
THE .SKETCIIING SOCIETY.
corzner. Of, designs and ketches in- water,eoloursrthe production Of a society-including Messrs: Leslie,. 'Stanfield, 1Jwins.,-and the, two Che-: lens, is now.ontiewat:Mr.:-Hog,arth's. in the Haymarket. The works are produced on -a, principle which: cannot fail to-make them . specially characteristic . Of 'their several .aiithors. .A .three,hours., meeting by the members, -and. a subject proposed—often' in. terms allowing any latitude of Choice each artist selects his.own treatment, and embodies, his-idea within the prescribed term, as we 'understand, of the migbC.8 re-, union but the amount of 'finish in some cases semis necessarily th' imply -subsequent-retotiching. 'Thus,'" A .Beaful-Seene-inNaturd - is. exim- plified. by. various. artists according: to thegpredileetions sit ..each;' "The Bathing-place ".:gives -oecaaion Chakm. Sor . . Very. liv;nly .andi at- . tractive, td.Mr,-Stanfieldolor a serenely beautiful composition ; and. on the proposal oLan Old Master, .Salvator is,,selected, singularly enough,
1Jwins Rubens Alfred.Chalon,—who, however, finds:the massive and brownymaterialism:too strong for him ; • Cuyp, signal ...success, by Mr.' john. Chalon.
Of the last artist .we must say, indeed,: that 'the vigour of laand.aticl of ,colour, the freedom, and life of these slimciws,, are likely:thprove,no small surprise to such as have 'formed their judgment from -his recent.Acidemy pictures alone. Certainly-they will not .be prepared for the truthfulness of the " Seesaw " or the.exeellenne, at once salient., and aiemete, of, the classic" Pastorel." Among•Mr.-Alfred Chalon's designs, -many mein his best style, and ell show power and perception unimpaired. -The "Dream in Autumn," ". The...Elements," "ThO Harvest Moon " are of a refined order of elegance, fully entitled to rank as poetic. in a "Walk in the Woods," the lady's. figure and sentiment are charming. -Mr. Stanfield, as in the "Chinese 'Pastime" and the "Italian Letter-writer," • shows: an amount of character and ,breadth of 'effect not always.observableinhis more 'finished -works : others, • especially No. 17. and . the modernized " Lorenzoand Jessica," exhibit his command in the poetic treatment of nature. 'Mr. Leslie's excellences appear chiefly in the " Subjectirom The Xeepsalce," in :the "Destruction of-Sodom," ' and above all,. in the '" Death of the First-borrf,"--the -suggestion of a- noble work, (allowing for a conventionality.in the figure of the dying youthrthat would doubtless yield to- the.consultation.of-hature)—grand and.solemn with its -watching agony,. its .humbled-Pharaoh, and aghast silent torch-bearers. There is entertainment, added to a higher interest, in this collection ; admitting the spectator as in a manner it does into.the confidence of.the .artistin his least professional andpublicrmoments.
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