ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ANNUALS.
THE LITERARY SOUVENIR.
THIS annual has ever held the highest place among its compeers, not excepting the Keepsake, which, though it unquestionably takes the lead in the beauty of its embellishments, yet yields to the Souvenir in the quality of its contents, and scarcely surpasses it in its illustrations. We are glad to see occasional engravings from the old masters inter- spersed with those from the moderns ; it has a very agreeable as well as useful effect, and will not only gratify the lovers of art, but prove a stimulus to modern artists. The Magdalen of CORREGGIO is one of those intensely-beautiful pictures that we can never see too often : it is well engraved by W. H. WATT. Lady Georgiana Agar Ellis and child, from LAWRENCE, is beautifully engraved by the same artist ; and, like all LAWRENCE'S portraits, forms a brilliant plate. It is an attractive and graceful composition, and full of interest, and the richness of effect has been well rendered by the engraver ; but we think the child has a look of too great maturity, and the mouth of the mother is a little out of drawing. These two prints are the gems of the collection : but there is a third, " The Narrative," a Boccacio scene of a conversation, champare, in STOTHARD'S happiest style, exquisitely engraved by W. GREATBATCH--we have only space to admire it, and refer our readers to the plate itself. We can find an excuse for Mr. EMMY.. STONE'S want of success in a subject so difficult and delicate as" Robert Burns and his Highland Mary." To preserve a likeness of the plain, manly features of Burns, and to give him the expression of a poet and a lover, is a task in which we know not the artist who could succeed. Mr. &IRONSTONE has made a pretty picture, and one which brings to mind Burns's sweetest songs on this subject. " Ghent," a most beautiful picture by NASH, finely engraved by E. GOODALL. " The Destruction of Babel," one of Mr. MARTIN'S architectural phantasies—we had written, when, on looking again at the plate, we saw the name of H. C. Snous. This is hardly fair ; not but that it is allowable to imitate Mr. MARTIN, yet to steal his temples, terraces, and walls as well as his ideas, is a gra- phic larceny. It goes to prove, however, ale very extrinsic character of Mr. MARTIN'S inventions, and with how much ease as well as success his imagination is equalled even in its own peculiar realm. The colossal elephants and the rent tower of Babel are fine. • The execution of the picture is vastly inferior to MARTIN, and the effect entirely so : Mr. JEAVONs hasnot been successful inhis engraving. The Lady at her Toilet alarmed at the wasp, by A. CHAnow, is an ample piece of substantiality, and her drapery is well thrown round her ; but the attendant's face is villanous in drawing and expression : the engraving by GREATBAT CH is excellent. " The Seaside Toilet," by HOLMES, is a pretty picture ; but the child has a woman's head both in size and expression : it is well engraved by PORTBURY. " The Canzonet," by H. HOWARD, R.A. is a pretty piece of quaintness; but, if the-faces were less unmeaning, it would be a more agreeable and poetical picdfre. "The Maiden Astronomer" of Mr. BoxALL was, we should judge intended for a Juliet, had not some sensible friend hinted that as such the face would be, to say the least, inap- propriate: the Maiden Astronomer" seems more skilled in tile lode-stars of men's eyes than any other sort of stars. It is an effective print, how- ever, and well engraved by E. FINDEN.' "The Secret,' by J. P. DAVIS, we do not like, for so many reasons that we have not time to say why. Mr. JoNes's " Trojan Fugitives," look very Westallish, the one with her head on the ground in particular : the effect is good, but the grouping too studied and artificial : it is well engraved, by J. C. EDWARDS. "Mary Queen of Scots, going forth to Execution," by STEPHANOFF, is a clever picture; but Mary looks rather like a demure widow going a second time to the altar, and the knight handing her down the steps seems as though he were about to dance a mintiet.
FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING.
This annual also boasts of an antique gem of art among its embellish- ments. Well may our modern artists be jealous of the preference shown to the works of their mighty predecessors, when we see how the occa- sional introduction of one of their pictures into a collection of modern works is like a comet among the stars of our hemisphere, bringing a trail of glory with it. " Poesie," from a picture by CARLO DOLCE is the head of an Italian Sappho crowned with bays ; her face full of a divinely melancholy sweetness, and her look intensely reflective, while the beau- tiful features and graceful air, and the wavy tresses flowing loosely over her shoulders, give a Sybilline character to the conception, which is in fine consistency with the style of the face. Here is imagination, mean- ing, and appropriate expression ; a unity of purpose and completeness of effect ; the soul of inspiration.seems to dwell in the countenance, looking Out at the eyes, and giving a tremulous sensibility to the pulpy ripeness of the mouth. Even the coronal of bays aids the wild imaginative cha- racter of the head. This is the highest style of fine art : let our modern face-makers look on this picture, and either learn to emulate or despair. The engraving of thisplase ha:executed in the finest manner, and reflects the highest credit on Mr. W. FINDEN. It is altogether an exquisite speci- men of painting and engraving, and of itself worth the price of the vo-
lume. St. Mark's Place, Venice," by PROUT, who delineates in his rich, broad, and faithful manner, the city of CANELETTI'S fame, and shows its stately palaces and spacious squares deserted and crumbling to ruin, in a bright sunny glow, as his great predecessor CANALETTI did in a cool grey light. " Ascanius in the lap of Venus," by J. WOOD; a graceful, Howard-like composition, displaying more art than inspiration. Auld Robin Gray," by the same ; a carefully-studied scene, and we dare say very like the reality: but in our own judgment it wants the sentiment of the ballad, though it may have as much as belonged to the real affair. If Mr. _We op will study nature, he will stand a fair chance of fulfilling the promise of his art : if not, he will settle into a merely clever imitator. " The Mountain Torrent," by W. PURSER; a very admirable composition, striking and effective. The old castle is poetically picturesque and the surrounding scenery ap- propriate. The figures on the bridge swept away by the mountain-tor- rent are rather theatrical, the man clinging to the side excepted. The water wants brilliancy, and the whole plate clearness : it is not one of GOODALL'S best efforts. "The Halt of the Caravan," by the same artist, is clever; but reminds one of a picture of the same subject by DAVIS, the animal painter, exhibited last year in the Suffolk Street Gallery. "The Maid of Rajasehan," is a beautiful Indian scene, by Colonel Ton, neatly engraved by E. FINDEN. Mr. LESLIE'S "Adelaide" is an impenetrable piece of handsome still life; • and her costume is more quaint than elegant. " The Last Look," by J. PORTER, is a very parlourish affair. "The Rejected," by STEPHANOFF, and "The Accepted," by M. W. SHARP, are -specimens of the affectation and feebleness of their respective artists.
THE WINTER'S WREATH.
The embellishments consist of thirteen plates, engraved in the best style of the art, in the line manner ; comprising history, portrait, fa- miliar life, and landscape : the latter please us best, and we therefore take them first. "Cologne," admirably engraved by GOODALL, from a very clever picture by S. AUSTIN, is a perfectly beautiful specimen, both as regards the drawing and composition and the execution of the engraving. "A Pass of the Abruzzi," by J. V. BARBER; an extremely clever picture, beautifully engraved by W. MILLER: the cave however, is too artificial, and we perceive a tendency to false refinement throughout the drawing. This tricking out of wild nature is a fault that prevails among artists; and its fatal effects are seen in the instance of LINTON, who is all temples and pillars in his designs, and all blue and yellow in his colouring. In this respect, landscape compositions are dangerous things : witness Mr. Ls/moles "Delos," all the different parts of which we remember to have seen before (only transposed) in his various works. We have in this one plate three Temples of Tivoli, a Parthe- non and a half,".. and sundry lots of architectural materiel : this is the display of stock in trade not the wealth of fancy. "Dove Dale," by CaaitnEs-BAEBERs nicely engraved by R. BRANDARD is a beautiful scene; but we-cannot make out the proportions of the objects,-L-tlie stream must be of immense width to allow of such a diminution in the size of the trees on the other bank ; • and if they are correct, the Derby. shire hills are very Andes in their stupendous height. A Cottage Farm Yard, by T. BARKER; somewhat ostentatious in its simplicity, but pretty nevertheless. "The Three Marks at the Tomb of Christ," by WEST, makes an effective plate, as do all good historical pictures, especially when engraved in miniature. "An English Flower" is the title given to the portrait, by HARGRAVES, of a melancholy-looking lady, dressed for her picture, well engraved. by H. ROBINSON. "La Huertana de Leon," by H. LIVERSEEGE, boldly engraved by GRUNDY ; the portrait of a lady in mourning, seated in an antique chair musing ; the hands badly made out. We have besides a picture by some old painter, of a courtesan-like St. Cecilia playing to angelic accompaniments of violin and double-bass ; one of Mr. WEs T- ALL'S well-known rustic mothers, her mouth and eyes forming the an- gles of an equilateral triangle; and a Deluge, after MossEs and before Moses, in which Mr. WOOD'S group of the Death of Abel is placed upon a rock, and a very ill-drawn bather is quietly climbing out of the pleasantly dashing surge, with the accompaniments of ark, lightning, and a pair of outspread hands of most capacious extent floating in the water, as by custom established. A very tasteful inscription plate of a wreath of flowers, completes the sum of embellishments. Judging from these specimens of the annuals for 1831, the embellish- ments present pretty much the same faults and beauties as those of 1830. We look anxiously for the illustrations of-the Keepsake and of the Landscape Annual, the latter entirely from drawings by Paour.
A New Comic Annual, and a Comic Offering are announced : if they rival Hoop's Comic Annual, we shall laugh our applause ;-but we suspect it will be for Mr. HOOD to make us "die of a pun in cachinnatiny pain."
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