FINE ARTS.
LUCAS'S PORTRAIT OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
AT last we have got a good and true likeness of WELLINGTON. LAW.. BENCE makes the Duke a fine gentleman ; 'ALLEY, a pantaloon ; SIMPSON, a suspicious character ; Lucas has given us the man and the soldier as lie is, without attempting to disguise the characteristics of his physiognomy—why should he ?—or to improve the strongly-marked features. Others are more or less like, but this is the portrait : there is no mistake about it.
The painting is a whole-length, the life size, and represents the Duke in the official costume of Master of the Trinity House, it being painted forthe brotherhood. The blue suit, with its scanty red collar and cuffs, is unbecoming enough; but the head is so satisfactory that the ungainly apparel is not of much consequence : moreover, the figure and attitude- the arms folded, and the legs straight and close together-are charac- teristic of the individual. The face is fleshy ; the eyes are calm, clear, and penetrating ; and the compact forehead, with its scant white hairs, denotes the veteran. The look is altogether life-like, and bespeaks the man of decision and action, and one accustomed to command.
The picture is to be engraved in mezzotint by HENRY COUSINS, full- length and on a large scale ; and if justice be done to it, as we doubt not, it will be a most acceptable print to the public. It is the latest portrait that the Duke has sat for, and it will probably be the last ; so at least we infer from the remark reported to have been made by his Grace, "If I am asked to sit for my portrait again, I shall tell them to copy Lucas's." The picture' is privately exhibited at the publisher's, Mr. BOYS of Golden Square.
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