16 JULY 1842, Page 18

FINE ARTS.

DOUGLAS IdORISON'S SKETCHES OF HADDON.

HADDON HALL, one of the most picturesque examples of the old English castellated mansions, and remarkable as being in a complete and un- altered state, has been made the subject of a volume of sketches, twenty- six in number, lithographed in the tinted style by Mr. DOUGLAS MORI- soi: from his own drawings. Mr. MORISON is a young artist, who comes before the public for the first time on this occasion, and puts forth claims to notice of no ordinary kind. Haddon well deserved a graphic me- mento of its architectural features, and their effect when seen in con- junction with the surrounding landscape ; and Mr. Moamoir seems to have left no striking point of view or picturesque nook and corner of the interior and exterior undelineated ; he has sketched them con amore, with spirit and freedom. The most meritorious characteristics of these views are their great breadth of light and shade and the sunny bright- ness of the effects : the old building is illumined by the says glancing across its turrets and oriel windows, and streaming into its vacant apartments ; the crumbling stones bask in the sunshine that gilds their decay, shedding brilliant gleams as of the departed glories of the place revisiting the scene. The shadows are beautifully transparent, and have a silvery gray tone that is very agreeable ; but the slightness of the sketches, and the vignette form of them together give an unsubstantial and visionary aspect to the views : to the eye of fancy the venerable pile seems to rise like the apparition of a baseless fabric "revisiting the glimpses of the moon," for some of the plates have quite a moonlit effect. This peculiarity is not objectionable in the present instance, being in accordance with the air of antiquity, solitude, and desertion that pervades Haddon; but this, as well as a certain monotony of effect and mannerism of style, are things to be avoided in future. The pen- eilling of the foliage, in particular, is faulty ; the trees looking like' heaps of tangled weeds. The perspective of the building is masterly ; and the leading points of the architecture are brought out with sharp- ness and precision, yet at the same time indicating the age of the build- ing. In the introduction of figures and furniture in the interiors, Mr. MORISON is not so happy as Mr. Nam has been in his Mansions of England. The forms look vague and unreal, as it were phantoms wandering through the tenantless rooms and forsaken gardens. It would have been better, we think, to have left them out altogether, and represented the place as it appears to the visiter, lone, silent, and empty. Some letterpress description, or account of Haddon, is a desideratum which might easily be supplied : without it th'e work is incomplete, and loses much of its interest to all but those who are familiar with the family history of the founder and subsequent possessors.