16 MAY 1829, Page 10

THE ROYAL ACADEMY PAINTINGS.

FOR the first time in our memory, we miss the remark, that " the Ex- hibition at Somerset House, this season, is, on the Whole, considerably inferior to that of last year." Have we at last got faultless pictures, or has the town ceased to be critical ?

Sir THOMAS LAWRENCE is strong in number, but weak in erect. Some of his subjects (as must necessarily be the case with a popular portrait-painter) are intrinsically unworthy of police, and we look in vain to find that the artist has done more for them than nature has vouchsafed: but one or two of his sitters really possess countenances worthy of being copied by a man of genius. Sir Thomas has made a poor likeness of " Lord Durham," and spoiled a fine le by his tame treatment of it. The portrait of "Robert Southey, Esq., Poet Laureate," No. 173, appears to us to be the President's most happy effort : the execution of this picture is extremely vigorous, and his placing tile head in relief against a mere block or fi•itomnt of stout:, is a bold step that has answered extremely well. CONSTABLE has a fine picture—the subject " Hadleigh Castle and the Mouth of the Thames, after a stormy night." It is loaded to super- fluity with the characteristics of this painters style. His sky is as fine a piece of turmoil as was ever got together : the spirit of life and cham- -paigne briskness that the landscape appears to have imbilaid from the weeping of the pant. night-clouds, adds, by contrast, to the gloom and disturbance that is still going: on in the distance, as the last effort of the dying storm. DANBY has confined himself entirely to the Apocalypse; but it has failed to inspire hint to the extent that might have been expected. The Angel clothed in a cloud, with a rainbow on his head and his face as it were the sun, is mitt akin to a failure : the artist has not painted accord- ing to directions ti le face of the angel is more like that of Lazarus than of Phhobus. Taken as a whole, the design fails in giving an idea of that immensity of space which ought to be manifest where an angel places " his right foot. upon tin' sea, alai Ids left foot upon the earth." The subject which hi intended to nmresent " an angel flying through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, Wo, wo, •wo, to the inhabitants of the earth!" is much more decided and master-like in its (lesion tlw sweepiao• figure of the angel, which occupies nearly the whole lemdii of the c itaiiss, bears the impress of 'grief upon it, and the manner in which ti; hands press upon the countenance assists the same feeling. We were not, however, exactly able to reconcile the idea the floure canveyed with that of an angel " crying with a loud voice:" there is so -Eno a tinge of melancholy thrown over the attitude and bearing of this harbinger of evil. that. we should rather expect him to be one who would " speak small like a woman," than shout forth de- struction in the ears Of it whole world.

TURNER has four pictures, each of which may be instantly recog- nized as his own, both in his peculiar excellences and his peculiar faults. His " Ulysses deriding Polyphemus" is the work on which he appears to have expended the most pains. The design of this picture

is a master-like conception; but the execution; even where most beau- tiful, approaches so nearly to a corruption of style, that it keeps the spectator in a continual alarm as to the extent to which it Will reach. It is the aiming to be a CLAUDE in a different way from which the CLAL'DE succeeded, that produces this meretricious exaggeration.

WILKIE has not only exceeded his usual number of pictures, but has quite gone beyond his usual style. Time was when, like GARRICK, he thought comedy was his vein, and knew as well how to set the cm/vassill a roar, as any artist that ever dreamt of TENIERS or basked in the sun of HOGARTIL But this is all altered, and with the air of Italy, now so genteel to breathe, the artist has imbibed a taste for more genteel subjects. The consequence of this alteration is, that his pictures are more looked at for the sake of the name of the painter than for the intrinsic merit they possess ; and though we are content to admire these productions of his idle hours, we cannot help hoping that they are only the fancies of a moment, and have not weaned him from the more genuine style of his ability and strength. The picture that pleases us most among his productions this year, is the Spanish " Posado ;" which, to borrow the words of the catalogue, represents a Guerilla council of war, at which three reverend fathers—a Dominican, a monk of the Escurial, and a Jesuit—are deliberating on some expe- dient of national defence, with an emissary in the costume of Valencia. Behind them is the posadera, or landlady,, serving her guests with chocolate, and the begging student of Salamanca, with his lexicon and cigar, making love to her. On the right of the picture, a contrabandist of BAboa enters upon his mule ; and in front of him is an athletic Castilian, armed, and a minstrel dwarf with a Snanish guitar. On the floor are sealed the goatherd and his sister, with the muzzled house- dog and pet-lamb of the family ; and through the open portal in the back-ground, is a distant view of the Guadamara mountains. The chief beauty of this picture is its propriety in describing the scene which it proposes : each character in the story is distinctly marked, and yet with a sufficient lien upon it to make it harmonize with the whole. The landlady is especially good: here was an opportunity for the real WILKIE touch to come in and he has availed himself of it: Madame is like the scimolman's ass between two bundles of hay; one ear is gaily given to take in the good-for-nothings of the travelling student—who is all for love, and a little for his supper ; and the other is, more woman-like, occupied in catching at every whispered syllable that is escaping from the lips of the conspirators. The pictures which lie has painted of Italian cardinals and Italian princesses washing the pilgrims' feet, are pleasant enough, and have some remarkably pretty grouping among them; but they do not reach the higher order of pointing, and are particularly unhappy in giving any idea of their scene being laid in Italy. EDWIN LANDSEER has some beautiful displays of his power in this exhibition, and every year evinces more and more strongly tied he is anything but a mere animal painter. His " Illicit '‘VItisky Still" is beautiful both in imagination and in execution ; and the only animal with which its main features have. to deal, is animal man. The man- ner in which he has conceived his grouping is highly romantic, and gives token that highlands are in the llei“111)0111'1100d: the old lady, who is so very intent in her studies, looks as if she lad the sine! ei the whisky already in her nose, and could spare no thought but fur the one all-absorbing idea of how it would taste in the mouth.

LEsmsns second illustration of Sir Roger the Coverlet's country scenes, must not be init;g by the side of his first, unless lie wants his earlier attempt io be admired by contrast. We must cordess, that, rememberhar all the pleasure we experienced in Sir Roger's visit to the country cilia-eh, we were grievously disappointed in his encounter with the eipsies. By tar the best figure in the piece is the young gipsy mother hi the right-hand corner; and she is uufortunately so sepa- rated both from the group and the story, that though lye acknowledge her own particular merit, we are unable to identify her with the gene- ral effect of the picture.