THE ANNUALS—THE KEEPSAKE.
FINE ARTS.
WE are among those who have hailed with exceeding gratification the rise and progress of the Annuals in. this country, and who think that much advantage has been derived from their appearance, in spite of their displaying much of tawdry on their outside and something of tin- sel within. It is not the object of this article to inquire how much benefit the public has derived from the writings which they have con- tained; for, on the present occasion, we intend to confine ourselves to the advantages they have conferred upon the arts of painting and en- graving, and more especially the latter.
"My son he is not: yet he is my son;
For when th' unwilling mother pass'd him by, I smiled, a fostering welcome, doing that Which she Who bore him callously denied."
This is beyond dispute when the facts of the case are considered for an instant. Every year now there are published ball a dozen Annual.— more or less ; containing, as we observed before, from fifteen to thirty illustrations, executed in the first style of art, the designs borrowed from the most excellent specimens which this or any other age has been able to produce, and the performance of the task confided to the first engravers in the country. Here, then, we have about one hun- dred and twenty capital works of genius disseminated on all sides, and a constant demand made upon the practisers of the art for the exer- cise of their skill. This is a patronage which we have long wished to see, for it is patronage in its very best form, reaching immediately from the public to the engraver without any officious would-be Maecenas intervening. What an infinite advantage is all this too, to the public! When there was but one engraver of eminence, there could be but one supply of a first-rate character: now that twenty men of nearly equal talent are in the field, the supply will be propor- tionate; and the only thing that was wanting—a ready and reasonable mode of making that supply—is at once furnished in the Annuals. Having made these observations on the benefits derived from such publications generally, we will take this opportunity of saying a few words on the Illustrations of the forthcomine. Keepsake. Amongst the many brilliant illustrations which this splendid work contains, it is a task of some difficulty to undertake to distinguish those which are worthy of being placed in the lead; but as they are too numerous to mention individually, we shall select a few for more particular obser- vation—though it would be by no means unfair, after describing one, to write of the rest, " Ex uno disee ornnes."
Sir T. LAWRENCE'S beautiful portrait of Lady G. A. Ellis has been .ngraved by CHARLES HEATH in fine style, and will be much admired or the manner in which so great an effect has been derived from Rich slight means._ The touch of the graver is really in some parts ilmost imperceptible, and yet, by never exceeding in those parts where lie strongest expression is intended, the eye traces with facility the nost minute purport of the workman. If this has been carried too kr anywhere, it is on the lower part of the neck, where the mark of he graver is entirely absent : it has the advantage of returning the ;aze of the spectator more immediately to the countenance, but it ievertheless in some degree diminishes the effect of the tout ensemble )y keeping the contour of the breast too much under. If we may be Mowed to criticise a lady's face, we cannot refrain from mentioning the ;ratification with which we dwelt upon the upper portion of the coun- enance : the easy ringlet, the placid eye, and the elevated forehead, re all in unison with our best notions of feminine elegance ; and if ve did not admire the under part of the face to a like amount, it was nly because the upper so enviously surpassed it. Two of TURNER'S views on the Virginia Water, have been delight- Illy engraved by R. WALLIS. The original pictures have already een before the public,—at least such part of the public as thought roper to visit the exhibition of Mr. TURNER'S water-colour drawi thich was made last season at the Egyptian Hall. The touch of lr. If we inquire into the state of engraving some thirty or forty years ago, we shall find, that although those days were not without men of surpassing talent in that department, yet they never appeared in the clusters in which they now present themselves, Those were times when BARTOLOZZI flourished and STRANGE reared his giant head; but they were solitary stars, and travelled onwards unrivalled and un- impeded in their course, the public being obliged to receive them, in place of the assembled constellation under which we are now enjoying all that the graver's art can bestowA To make this point more conspi- cuous, take it in this light, An Annual contains from fifteen to thirty illustrations ;—what Would the public say if the whole of these, whe- ther in the Keepsake, the forget Me Not, or any other, were found to be engraved by one engraver, however potent in his art ? The cry would directly be, "What has become of HEATH—of FINDEN—of WALLIS—of Roees—of FREEBAIRN ?" and probably a score of others. It may be retorted on us—" W-hat has all this to do with the Annuals? —These men have been rising into notice for the last ten or fifteen years, and the Annuals have not existed half that time." The propo- sition is true ; but it only goes to show that these men have not been brought forth by the Annuals,—not that they have not been fostered by them. WALLIS in transferring these pictures to the plate, has been extremely happy ; and throughout both he has with great skill contrived to pre- serve that fulness of tone for which Mr. TURNER'S productions are so remarkable.
PROUT'S scene in Venice has been engraved by Mr. FREEHAIEN with an agreeable effect. The tableau is full of thegaiety of the place, and gives a lightness en passant to the long vista of buildings, which of themselves would not perhaps admit of such a result. The archi- tecture of these erections, however, is made out with remarkable clearness and precision; care having at the same time been taken not to fall into that rigidity of outline to which all architectural represen- tations are so liable.
Josephine, painted by DE VERIA. of Paris, and engraved by C. ROLLS. If this may be taken as a specimen of the talent of the French artist above named, we shall not be surprised at hearing that his works are much sought after in this country. We are aware of the failings of the modern French school—alas, too well aware of them ; and we will not deny having a prejudice against them—not Tam* French, but quasi stiff and unnatural. In this plate of Jose- phine, however, we could find none of these vices ; and till we saw the painter's name at the bottom, should never have guessed that we were studying an importation from the other side of the Channel. The design exhibits a brunette—and such a brunette !—reclining on a couch ; of all attitudes, we should have said, till we saw this, the most unlucky for a French artist, being a necessary incentive to a wrong headed painter to exhibit his subject under all sorts of qiiiduosas, dolo- rosas, and penserosas. Our artist here, however, has fallen into none of these : Josephine reclines on her couch, not only like a Christian, but with an ease in her position, and a sweep in her limbs, as gracious in effect, as it is true to nature : her fine arms bend just within their proper limits, and her tiny foot steals from beneath the drapery with infinite promise of a well-turned ankle. But all this time we forget her face, bright with beauty, and still brighter with smiles ;—we for- get to tell how her eye sparkles with archness—honest archness (how came a Frenchman to be able to hit on honest archness, without fall- ing beside it into the other sort of roguery ?)—we forget to tell how the naivete which her eye expresses is borne out by the wreathed smiles of her countenance—is carried on by the undulating lines of her person— is in unison, in fine, with the whole condition of this excelling Josephine.
LESLIE'S Bride, engraved by HEATH, is a pretty piece of formality —not from mistake, but for the purpose. The lady looks amiably distressed—agreeably dilemma'd—in short, just as a bride from time immemorial has been bound to look. In saying this, we must be understood to mean, that LESLIE has seized with great nicety the tiny portion of humour which such a subject may be permitted to em- ody, and expressed it in his painting with equal happiness. HEATH'S engraving of-the picture is agreeably touched.3 and gives a lightness to Mademoiselle's contour, in accurate keeping with the playful intention of the artist.
Another picture of LESLIE'S, entitled the Castle Hall, has been engraved by MITCHELL. It represents a playful boy tramping an ancient hall with the splintered remains of a lance between his legs, by way of horse, while his right hand holds fast a wooden sword : near him stands a man "in armour dight," who watches his demeanour with that gravity of aspect which naturally pervades the features when one of forty years standing in this world watches the manoeuvres of one of four,—unless, indeed, his jocund disposition induces him to laugh at the pretty imitation which infancy delights to give of those who are on before them in life's career : there are other figures less prominent in the engraving; and the whole, when compared with his "Bride," which we have just noticed, affords a successful proof of the versatility of the painter's humour. The engraving of this plate is • executed with considerable breadth and power ; but it struck us that the figures in the back ground at the table wanted a little more dis- tinctness to give them fair play.
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