FINE ARTS.
EXHIBITION OF MODERN PICTURES AT THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. Tun exhibition of pictures by living artists at the British Institution opened on Monday, with a still worse collection than last year. This once popular and flourishing institution is steadily pursuing the down- ward course to which it has been impelled by that persevering mis- management which we have had such constant occasion to demon- strate. There were but few persons at the private view on Saturday we wish this symptom of declining interest were the only one ; but the walls too plainly demonstrate the true state of the case: not even the premiums offered by the Directors can induce many artists of talent to send their productions to this, the best gallery in London for exhibiting in to advantage, if properly managed. The few really good and inte- resting pictures are fewer than usual ; and it is some years since we have seen such a profuse variety of ludicrous daubs : yet the catalogue announces that "the Directors have been under the necessity of return- ing upwards of three hundred pictures from want of room"! ! it is im- possible that the rejected three hundred can be worse than some which have found a place ; perchance they may be better. It would be diffi- cult, we should think, to match such a pictorial phienomenon as Mr. SIRSITELD TAYLOR'S representation of The perilous situation of Admiral Nelson's ship, the Vanguard, in a hurricane at daybreak—for the rest of the description we refer to No. 174 in the Catalogue, where it occupies several lines : the ship is a curiosity in its way,. and its situation is perilous indeed, for it is embedded in billows of long grass, and threat- ened with annihilation by solid beams of lightning and vollies of black woollen clouds.
On ascending the stairs, the eye is attracted by a huge picture of a
soldier, the size of life, standing beside his horse, with their backs to- wards you ; and on going up to it you discern the well-known profile of the Duke of WELLINGTON, his iron visage " sicklied o'er with the pale cast" of sentimental miming: the vigorous but exaggerated style of drawing, and the coarse manner of painting, proclaim it to be by HAYDON. In the Catalogue (No. 14) it is described as A Hero and the Horse which carried him in his greatest battle, imagined to be on the field again twenty years after. The furrowed face and gray hairs of the Dole indicate no less plainly than the Belgic pyramid the lapse of time, though the relics of the fight that strew the ground would imply a newly-foughten field. This anachronism is inexcusable ; for, besides being unnecessary to mark the spot, it lessens the impressiveness of the idea : the presence of the living conqueror and the monuments of the slain should be the only memorials of the bloody strife that desolated these plains : the contrast between the military trappings and the har- vest-wagons, whose long shadows are cast athwart the stubble-field, would be more striking, and imply the triumph of peaceful toil over warlike devastation. The picture was painted for St. George's Hall, Liverpool ; and in such a place it will be effective, besides possessing higher interest than a mere portrait.
From this immense canvass with its two life-size figures painted by a veteran, let us turn to a small one filled with several groups by a mere'
youth, The Fair at Fougeres, Brittany, (17,) by F. GOODALL: the frown- ing turrets of the old castle are almost hidden by the booths that shelter the merrymakers; under one of which is a party of dancers, and in front of another a crowd is attracted by the professions of a charlatan: the principal group is formed by a jovial party of wine-bibbers round a table, to which the dancers are subordinate ; though the old woman frying cutlets in the foreground, and an old man telling his story in one corner, are not overlooked. Every face is alive with character and ex- pression, and all appear absorbed in their respective occupations, from the sweet little girl watching the dancers to the man carving the melon ; and the figures are equally adinirable for ease and animation ; in a word, it is a representation of life as true 'as .ever WILK/E gave, and only wanting the perfection of executive skill which may be attained by diligent study and practice, and by that alone, to rival WILKIE'S excel- lences. Mr. GOODALL has taken a great step in advance this year; he has shown that he can depict Momentary action and transient emo- tion as well as individual dharacter and form ; and he evinces a degree of inventive power that leaves him without excuse for gleaning ideas from WILKIE and Thum. This clever and interesting picture is hung below the level pf the eye; but luckily the visiter may sit to view it ; we feel grateful af not being forced to kneel. Another young artist of great promise, ALEXANDER Joinvirros, is less fortunate; his two pic- tures being exalted so high that it is almost impossible to say if the ex- pression of the faces tells the story: in The Brew Wooer, (187)—a suitor snaking bye to a coquette—we are not able to detect the precise shade of meaning on which the success of the artist depends ; while in The Landing of Jeanie Deans at Roseneath, (206,) the attitude of Jeanie, whose face is hidden in her father's bosom, is so eloquent of feeling that we would fain ascertain whether the countenances that are shown are 'equally expressive. The murder of the two young Princes in the Tower, a tragic inci- dent of the most touching character, of which SRAKSPERE has made a picture ready to the painter's hand, has never yet been painted with characteristic pathos : the French painter DELAROCEE has made a me- lodramatic version of it, and all who havelittempted the subject seem to have been possessed with a horror of nightcaps and bedgowns, for the children are mostly represented in their clothes. This custom has been followed by Mr. W. &snow, ifi his picture of, The. Death of Ed- ward the Fifth and his Brother Richard Duke of York, in the Tower, (136): the little victims are really asleep, though their heads scarcely press their pillows ; but the beautiful image of the poet— ' o Their lips were four red roses on a stalk. Which in their summer hearth, kissed each other," ill not realized in the picture; and the book of prayers" lies on the spacious bed, not on the one pillow of the narrow crib that was pro- bably their conch. The best point- of the picture is the touch of re- roltirte on the heavy countenance of Forrest, who seems to Pause in the Work Of death : the startled attitude of Dighton ise melodramatic
mistake. ,
Emus' LANDSEER, we are glad to see, has resumed the exercise of his pencil with unabated vigour and skill : he contributes one of his eloquent dogs—a forlorn ragged- coated terrier, who has returned to his tub-kennel after a long absence ; so we infer from the snail crawling across the threshold, and the einPty. water-pan : the poor brute, with upeast eyes and piteous aspect, seems to be indulging in a con- solatory whine to the effect of the motto, "Be it ever so humble there's no place like home," (120.) The head of the dog is full of life and char racter, and the tub and the pan are palpable realities ; but the rest is only sketchily indicated : for the want of a little more labour this dexterous artist spoils many ,a fine picture. HERBERT has four designs, all expressive of emotion and suggestive of Story, but deficient in individual character, and wooden in texture, though well drawn and carefully painted. The Gaoler's Daughter, (79,) unlocking the cell-door inscribed " Morte," is evidently interested in the escape of the prisoner, for which she has provided a rope-ladder and crow-bar; but she does not interest the looker-on. The Outcast, (80,) hides her face with her hands, as she turns from the closing door through the opening of which the forbidding hancl'of an angry father in protruded ; yet we do not feel that the blush of shame is on her clie,e1c; for her step is firm, and her erect posture denotes fortitude, not humiliation. These two small but finished pictures have too much merit to be placed on the ground ; and HERBERT'S other two larger ones deserve a better position than in the South Room' where they are almost the only performances worth looking at. The Unrelenting Lord, (436,) a warrior waving his cap as a signal for the upraised sword of the execu- tioner to fall on the neck, of a culprit, for whose life the distracted woi man at his feet has been vainly suing for pardon, is ,a theatrical but net a dramatic incident ; and the horror of the woman, who closes her e& as if to shut out the sound Of the falling head—a ghastly idea—is h sical ; isolating her face, she seems terror-struck by a loud crash. The Invitation, (4170 is only a smiling dame receiving a letter from a messenger with literally a wooden head ; but the colour is pure and bright, and it is a pleasing picture altogether. ' If Mr. HERBERT could put aside the mask of external beauty and bring character to light, and depict flesh and blood as well as he does costume, he would do justice to his talent; the earnest spirit in which he pursues his art leads us to hope that he may, especially since he has such a noble opportunity of distinguishing himself and vindicating British art, as is afforded him by the commisSion for painting in fresco the altar of the new Catholio Church now erecting in St. George's Fields, A Serenade, (255,) by D. MACLISE exhibits a gigantic roysterer of robust stature with a rubicund laughing visage, sitting astride a wall that looks as if it could not 'sustain his :bulk, much less the additional weight of his companion, who is perched on the rope-ladder that hangs from its arched aperture. There is power and animal spirit in the de- sign ; but it is a practical burlesque of the refined sentiment of the verses of Mr. BitowsuNc, which furnish the Motto': the colouring is glaring, and there is an utter want of keeping in the picture ; the effect daylight, aylight, not starlight ; the 'head of the serenader is ligneous, the carpet of the balcony where the ladies are seated is metallic, and the vault of heaven is a slab of lapis lazuli. -With such a combination of requisites to make a popular painter as Mr. MACLISE possesses—quick perception of external characteristics, mastery of form, facility of exe- cution, and above all, lively fancy and humorous invention—he might rival HOGA.RTH in satire and WILKIE in minute truth of representation, if he would direct his powers to depict the comedy of life as it now estists, whether in the low life of Ireland or the high life of London : but, like other men of genius, he mistakes his forte. 'Who shall con- vince him that one Snap-Apple Night is worth a score of theatrical Macbeths and Sleeping Beauties? The Wanderer. (2,) by T. WEBSTER-all Italian boy casting a hungry glance in at a cottage-door, from which it group of children are gazing at his cage of white mice—is a choice bit of nature; the little urchin's wondering eyes peering above the board placed across the door-way, and his elder brother eagerly pointing out the strange creatures to him, elicit a smile, while the painful look of " the wanderer " excites a feel- ing of pity. The Old English Ballad-Singer, (115,) by W. B. Scow, has merits of conception that are not adequately represented by the execution ; while the converse applies to The Romantic Marriage, (135,) by N. J. CROWLEY ; which is all glare and tinsel. The Bashful Lovel- and the Maiden Coy, (77,) by F. STONE, is only an attractive and,well- painted study of costume • for there are no limbs beneath. ' C. LAND- SEER'S colossal Sonncanb4 (930 is merely a clever theatrical portrait, Mrs. A. CARPENTER'S Fair* Tale, (I31,) is a pleasing group of a Mother and child; but the two figures are not in harmonious tone, and the flesh of neither is her bait : though much nearer to nature than that of GEDDES'S flustered Wood-Nymph„ (111); or of GEORGE HATTER'S Ma9- dalen,.(72,), with glass eyes and oakum hair ; or of Von HoEses livid Bride, (121,) the gold background of which makes the flesh more flat and dirty ; or of Errv's Little Brunette, (146)—a child's head cut in charcoal, with fiery nostrils. The best effort of mere imitation of the rotund form, yielding substance and pearly tint of flesh, is a portrait of a female with upturned eyes and hands crossed on her bosom, called Aspiration, (233,) by a foreign artist named GAMBARDELLA : cold, lite- ral; and mindless though it be, deficient she in the finer qualities of art, here is a palpably true representation of the 'material part of feminine nature. But for the living character that animates the being and makes the spirit look out at the eyes, we commend the visiter to the arch young beauty who darts . mischievous glances from her lustrous orbs, and offers a bouquet as if challenging one to take it and pay her with a kiss :. it is oddly termed An Extract from Nature, (217 ,) by R. Ram- WELL for vivacity of expression, freshness of colouring, and power of relief, it may vie with Mumixo's Flower-Girl, though in a totally different style. ' INSKIPP'S sketches are beautiful in point of colour, but his negligent mannerism becomes intolerable: as studies for pictures they are admi- rable, but nothiag.more. The costume of the belle on The Promenade at Venice, (I71,) is so chaste in tone and lively in colour that it captivates the eye, in spite of the absence of form and substance in the figure • but his Zingarella, (344,) is a mere daub. P. F. POOLE'S studies of figures are characteristics. the woman and child at The Mountain-Rivulet, (45,) for example : such slight sketches, however, do not deserve the name of pictures. Mr. POOLE'S colouring is still Somewhat muddy. And this remark reminds us' that Madame SOYER, having partially -remedied a similar defect in her homely matter-of-fact studies of character, deserves a passing recognition 'of her L'Heureux Gourmet, (151): the origin we may trace to the gastronomical department of the Reform Club, of which the lady's husband—also an artiste of no ordinaryeeletnity in a different branch of taste—is the chef. Passing from dinner to dessert, we stop to feast our eyes on a rich heap of Fruit, (168,) by G. LANCE; who has surpassed himself in the brilliancy and power of this imitation of nature the cut melon exuding its luscious juice, the grapes, peaches, and pine- apples, are palpable and mellow with ripeness : the introduction of the bad bit of landscape, which would be out of place had it been ever so well painted, mars this otherwise splendid picture of still life. Of landscapes there are but few. Those by ORES WICK are -exquisitely true to nature, and most delicately pencilled ; but with a tendency to a petite and feeble mannerism, that the painter should carefully avoid. His principal picture, Afternoon, (39,) is a stream tumbling'over a barrier of rock beside a wood that screens the rays of a low sun, here and, there penetrating through the trees and enlivening the shade ; an open country with a farm-house under a cool gray sky forming the background; the rocks are solid stone, the water is fluent, the foliage pensile, and the clouds are aerial ; a feeling of the repose of evening pervades the scene : the only objection is to the cold dark tone of the picture, which is rather too sombre even for an autumnal afternoon : the great merit of this admirable work consists in the care,-solidity, and finish of the painting throughout; a rare excellence in English landscape, and therefore to be valued accordingly. CitEswicis. has several delicious little dells, with rocks and water overhung with foliage, through which the sun glances—Afternoon, (39,) June, (141,) A Quiet Spot, (194,)'ana a sweet shady nook in A Wood; (70) : his Farm, Yard, (2680 exhibits -the tendency to meagreness and coldness before indicated, in-a faulty degree. EDWARD COOKE'S Dutch sea-pieces and coast-scenes display so much skill and cleverness, and such a lively feeling for nature, that- one won- ders why these qualities should not produce finer results: the secret we suspect to be, that the artist having acquired facility and dexterity in imitating particular objects, works too mechanically, and looks more to pictures than to nature ; hence the mannerism which he has fallen into. The sea in the Mouthof the Rivet Zaan with Zuyder Zee Fishing- craft, (1260 is not liquid, though the forms of the waves are suggestive of motion and buoyancy ; and the uniform texture of the objeats 'in his view of Elizabeth Castle, Jersey, (116,) at sunset, increases the mon- strous glare of the effect, which a judicious variety of surface as well as the introduction of cool tints would have prevented.
The most striking coast-scene is a view. along the cliffs from Broad- stairs Pier—Morning, (260,) by C. R. STANLEY; the sun rising from a bed of clouds on an autumnal day, with that cold white gleam that indi- cates the approach of rain : 'the light and distance in this picture are aerial ; the eye is led along the beach and across the wave to the hori- zon and a sense of freshness is eiperienced in contemplating the scene : the tone of the picture is a.little crude,' and the foreground somewhat meagre, but these defects might easily _be remedied. Jona MARTIN has a large landscape with a powerful effect, Curfew-Time, (178,) intended to illustrate "Gray's Elegy ": but, as usual, the scene is a mountainous waste, with a forest of double-gnarled oaks, and a gigantic figure in black on a huge rock in the foreground. A sunny glimpse of Amalfi, (43,) from a .vine-trellised walk, by Uvrrim ; and a study of beech in a Scene in Windsor Forest, (208,) by J. WiLsost junior, are the most noticeable of the new pictures. We have taken no account of those exhibited before, which are Very numerous, and often occupy the best' places : this is but fair to those which were hidden in the dark 'hole at the Academy; but for such ludicrous abortions as Mr. HOWARD'S Prosespine, Mr..Wian's SheepWashing, and other manifesta- tions of dotage by Royal Academicians, to be placed on the line in the best room, while such a picture as Cores Board of Guardians, (288,) is pat ma corner of the worst, is too bad.
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