FINE ARTS.
THE Queen has appointed Mr. SAMUEL. PROUT principal painter in water colours to her Majesty ; an honour well bestowed and well deserved. Paour is one of the old school of water colour painters, who used the reed pen in their bold free outlines, and tinted with slight washes of colour ; and he is the only one who has continued suc- cessfully to practise this style (a little heightened in force of colour) in the present time, when the art has attained a rivalry with the power and depth of oil painting. And the reason of this is, that the vigo- rous manner of PROUT was always the least important, though to superficial observers the most obvious, part of his merits. These consist in his vivid perception and strong feeling for the picturesque ia forms and effects ; especially in architectural scenes : he depicts reali- ties in the most true and striking manner, indicating those crumbling touches of decay that break the hard outline and smooth surface of objects. His old buildings are sketched with the spirit of antique- rianism : be follows in the track of Time—but his works will linger behind.
The veteran artist will be cheered by this gracious mark of royal favour in his marine retirement, where he is invigorating a fragile and shaken constitution with quiet and the sea breezes : it will give him fresh spirit to prosecute the undertakings he has commenced—one of which is a second volume of his Sketches.
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