FINE ARTS.
PANORAMA OF AMSTERDAM.
THAT most indefatigable of artists, Mr. BURFoRD, has produced an- other of his popular and interesting panoramic pictures ; and this tima places before us in the Strand, the city of Amsterdam—the Venice of
Holland—that country of broad-bottomed burgomasters and flat-hot,
• tomed boats—of canals (or kennels rather, for they are very sewers for effluvia), dried herrings, and smoked spirits. Of this aqueous Lew/. tory BUTLER said, that "it draws forty feet of water ; " and BRASMUX remarked of Amsterdam, that its inhabitants lived "like crows on the tops of trees,"—alluding to its piled foundations. The city stands ía the midst of the conflux of the river Amstel (whence its name), with the Y an arm, or inundation rather, of the "rolling Zuyder Zee," which Mr. BISHOP has invested with such gleeiul associations. It forms a crescent embracing the harbour, from whence the present view is taken. Tha subject might at a superficial view appear not very favourable for pie- torial effect, the country being flat, and the greater portion of the scene being water, relieved and enlivened only by the vessels in the harbour, which being placed in rows, have in themselves a monotonous effect. Nevertheless, by the skill with which these objects are depicted, the dul. ness is lost sight of in the beauty of the execution. The red brick houses, with their "green door, brass knocker" adornments, are made picturesque; and the smoke rising from the vane-topped chimnies into the light and humid atmosphere produces a pleasing effect. The range of pleasure-houses erected in the harbour, whither the burghers repair to enjoy their pipe and grog, and watch the boats in summer and the skaters in winter, forms a pretty object in the foreground (if we may call it so) of the picture. The distance, made up of dikes and canals, and relieved only by the windmills erected on the twenty-six bastions which fortify the city, looks very cold and aguish : scarcely a tree is in sight— it is a marine landscape, where skippers and herrings only seem in their- element.
The effect produced upon the visitor who enters the small circle formed by the clever View of Paris, after leaving Amsterdam harbour, is very striking. It is like entering a Committee-room after leaving West- minster Hall. The contrast afforded by the two views is much in favour of Amsterdam. The effects of space and distance are well given in the Panorama of Paris ; but the great extent of scene as well as of canvass in the former, and the watery boundary of the horizon increase the airiness of the picture, while in the latter you are surrounded by buildings.
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