head of 1' Designs ; " including all such as

tell a story or convey a sen-

But beyond the sidling embarrassment of a silly servant-wench at HILTON,—ETTY alone contributes to the present exhibition. HAY- hearing that she had a sweetheart, there is nothing in the look of DON is proscribed by the Academy ; HILTON is suffering from ill Josephine to convey an idea that she is having her fortune told, much health ; uitid Damns has forsaken the path of high art. WILKIE, EAST- less of the emotion that the prediction excited in her : the gipsy, with LAKE, HOWARD, LESLIE, MO LANDSEER, du not attain to the grandeur her ugly, pinched-up face, and sinister expression, is a very Scotch and power of historic or epic painting ; and MARTIN is a scenic Negress. It is lamentable to see a painter of \Visa's's powers mis- painter, like TURNER, and deals only with material objects and ele.

applying them in a way so fatal to his reputation, and so disappointing mental effects. Indeed, were we to review the works of the painters

to those who adinire his talents when exercised on subjects that come who have aimed at the " grand style," we very much fear that the within the scope of his genius. In these be seems wanting in com- large size of the figures, and the assumption of a grand manlier, would mon understanding and feeling. be more apparent than greatness of conception or elevation of senti- EASTLAKE'S picture of " A Scene in the Greek War—an Arab ment. But let that pass.

that most completely tells its own story. The expression of silent, " The Syrens and Ulysses," (1.2.2,) is a glaring instance of want of ima- subdued, but irrepressible grief, in the faces of the captives, a group ciliation, and an utter destitution of poetic feeling. Errg is a sensual, of women, is effecting in the extreme : their pallid faces, and tearful not an intellectual painter ; delirium in sensibility and refinement as apprehensiveness as to their future fate. The only defect is in the opportunity it allarded him at displaying his unrivalled skill in paint- character of the Arab mid his Turkish customers, which are too noble ing flesh, and gratifying his love of displaying the female figure. The and sensitive for the occasion : the enlin gravity is characteristic, but Syrens are a group of' three naked women kneeling, their lower limbs they attract the attention Of Ulysses say very little for their arts of fascination. As if to bear out the grossness of the conception, corpses the shore, among flowers and shells—an incongruity not only shocking to the sense, hut entirely destroying the integrity of the story. It is purpose before his eyes. These horrible accessories should either not the present exhibition) makes his most brilliant hues look like splendid mud. The putrid corpses and skeletons are represented with loath-

'TTY'S other performances,—" Samson betrayed by Dalila," (21,) ALFREDCHALON has made an attempt to treat this subject in the style

Wisais, in his three subject pictures, "Mary Queen of Scots es.

events, but an incapability of depicting a scene or incident involving

a poetical sentiment. He is a tninute, literal matter-W.-fact painter,

FINE ARTS. could teach him this truth. When he attempts to treat grand subjects, peril of the attempt ; the only indications of which are the hurried

EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY. action of the female attendant, the darkness, and the rude boatman,—..

THIRD NOTICE—THE DESIGNS. who, by the by, holds a lantern, which would surely have been dis- to us Mr. COLLINS the singer, playing the part in a melodrama. The One would naturally expect this to be the most gratifying part of our But beyond the sidling embarrassment of a silly servant-wench at HILTON,—ETTY alone contributes to the present exhibition. HAY- hearing that she had a sweetheart, there is nothing in the look of DON is proscribed by the Academy ; HILTON is suffering from ill Josephine to convey an idea that she is having her fortune told, much health ; uitid Damns has forsaken the path of high art. WILKIE, EAST- less of the emotion that the prediction excited in her : the gipsy, with LAKE, HOWARD, LESLIE, MO LANDSEER, du not attain to the grandeur her ugly, pinched-up face, and sinister expression, is a very Scotch and power of historic or epic painting ; and MARTIN is a scenic Negress. It is lamentable to see a painter of \Visa's's powers mis- painter, like TURNER, and deals only with material objects and ele.

applying them in a way so fatal to his reputation, and so disappointing mental effects. Indeed, were we to review the works of the painters

to those who adinire his talents when exercised on subjects that come who have aimed at the " grand style," we very much fear that the within the scope of his genius. In these be seems wanting in com- large size of the figures, and the assumption of a grand manlier, would mon understanding and feeling. be more apparent than greatness of conception or elevation of senti- EASTLAKE'S picture of " A Scene in the Greek War—an Arab ment. But let that pass.

chief of Iledschid Pacha's army selling captives" (138,)—is the one The most prominent in the exhibition, Errv's great picture of that most completely tells its own story. The expression of silent, " The Syrens and Ulysses," (1.2.2,) is a glaring instance of want of ima- subdued, but irrepressible grief, in the faces of the captives, a group ciliation, and an utter destitution of poetic feeling. Errg is a sensual, of women, is effecting in the extreme : their pallid faces, and tearful not an intellectual painter ; delirium in sensibility and refinement as well as invention. Ile has evidently chosen the subject merely for the eyes convey a sense of hopeless misery and degradation, with painful apprehensiveness as to their future fate. The only defect is in the opportunity it allarded him at displaying his unrivalled skill in paint- character of the Arab mid his Turkish customers, which are too noble ing flesh, and gratifying his love of displaying the female figure. The and sensitive for the occasion : the enlin gravity is characteristic, but Syrens are a group of' three naked women kneeling, their lower limbs

something of the hard and ferocious Fensualisat is wanting. This is only being partially veiled by riell draperies : they are more voluptuous an error on the side of refinernew, that is so seliloan seen in modern in character than perfset in form ; in fact, they are A rottenly models,

painters that %re can hardly bring ourselves to find fault with it. The

whose persomd defects the painter ROI corrected so completely as painting is exquisitely delicate and finished, only a little too feeble and to attain the ideal of female boauty. Their faces are vacant—devoid tame : but had the picture greater drawbacks than these, its intense of meaning or expression of any kind ; and the gestures with %vIriell pathos would inure than make up fur them.

" Baffirelle and the Fornarinu," (104,) by Casscorr, is another of

ill those beautiful productions which it is ',Mufti] to olsject to, especially various stages of decomposition and human bones are strewed on

when the objection, as in this instance, strikes at the root of the semi- anent : but truth must be told ; and, refilled as is the feeling and skill displayed in this picture—which is the more admirable and extraordis

obvious that Ulysses would not have been tempted by the wiles of nary :IS being the work of a landscapc-paiiiter—it is tame, character- these fair enchantresses with the ghastly evidences of their deadly less, and unimpassioned. itaffaelle is a handsome, intellectual, and graceful youth, with a look of quiet enjoyment, but without a spark of have been introducedist all or been dimly shadowed forth in the distance. the fire of love or a ray of genius in his face ; and the Fornarina is not The points for the painter to seize upon are the fleshly charms of the the buxom Italian girl whose voluptuous form and frank and cordial Syrens, and their treacherous fascinations : we can fancy what subtle nature captivated the young painter, but a sedate and rather demure dangerous beauty, with a lurking expression of fiendish cruelty and young damsel. Nevertheless, we wish the pictures of this quality remorselessness, Isms:Ann° DA VINCI would have depicted in their were more numerous : where intellectual feeling, elegant taste, ma- countenances. The character of the Syrens could only be given in tined skill, and beautiful execution are combined in a work of art, not their looks, which might tell the whole story, without need of intro- even its defects of imaginative power can prevent our admiration, during Ulysses. ETTY has brought in the bark, and represented though they may lessen our enjoyment. Of this class is the " Paulo Ulysses striving to leap out with the action of Hercules trying to rid and Francesca" of C. W. Coe; (39), which, though deficient in deli.. himself of the poisoned shirt the anatomy of the whole crew is cacy of sentiment and passion and vigour of character, and imperfect equally overcharged, especially considering the distance; but the mus- in execution, shows a sense of the beauty of the subject. The expres- cular development of the back of the helmsman outdoes Gotazies sion of passion in repose—of latent emotion—is not only inure difficult exaggeration and falseness. The redeeming qualities of the picture for the painter to represent, but less interesting to the beholder. are its beautiful colouring, and finished and powerful execution. The Howann's designs are so utterly devoid of' character and thought, that solidity and purity of the flesh tints surpass any thing that EfTY has they look like classical hieroglyphics, of which formal conventionality done before : the shadows in the forms, though too strongly defined, of manner is a principal feature. They are of the rank in painting that a

are not leathery, as formerly ; and the painting is freer from that opa- schoolboy's theme is in literature. From such vapid commonplaces we city which in some of Em's pictures (including the smaller trees in

turn with increased pleasure to LESLIE'S cheerful realities. " Perdita"

(47), is a charming young creature dispensing herbs and flowers to the in.. s i mates of the cottage, who regard her with admiring wonder : and though some fidelity : the surgeons will be in raptures ; indeed, the picture s oril fit to adorn a dissecting-room. there is not much of sentiment in the faces, the frank sweetness of Per- dita, and the sense and meaning of' the others, combine with the cleverness

4‘ Mars, Venus, and Cupid," (2670 " Adam and Eve," 0/95,)—are of the painting to produce au agreeable impression. LESI.IE has told

mere studies of groups for form amid the the incident of Charles the Second's breakfasting with Lady Bellenden nd colour—the materiel o painter's art. In the Samson, an attempt is made to tell the story ; at the Tower of Tillietudlem, which Scorr has turned to such amus. ing account in Old Mortality, in the spirit of the novelist. The eras but we get no idea beyond that of a bouncing courtezan and a strong

man with his hands tied, held by a sort of black fuotboy in armour. pressenient of the gallant monarch, half-quizzical but perfectly good.

natured, and the coy, smiling, self-complacency of the old Lady Mar.

of PAOLO VERONESE vide 60. Dalila approaches Samson with the caret, are conveyed with the adroitness of the accomplished painter of artificial life. The whole scene of the well.spread breakfast-table, pomp of the Queen of Sheba paying her court to Solomon, and in with the courtiers standing behind their chairs, has an appearance of expressing the intense aversion of Samson, the painter has missed the reality, characteristic of ceremonial state, and in admirable keeping sublime and fallen into the ridiculous,

with the comic effect of the description. But how came the painter to make Charles fair and ruddy ?

caping from Lochleven Castle," (119,) " The Empress Josephine and MACLISE, like LESLIE, is essentially a painter of manners and social the Fortune-teller," (144,) and the " Cotter's Saturday Night," (3.58,) life, with a fantastic humour peculiarly his own. In treating an histo- manifests not only a want of elevation and dignity in treating historical

ricall subject, he brings it down to the familiarity of a conversation.

piece, and a scene of romance resembles a tableau vivant at some fate. ailing; and, to do them justice, they are well disguised, and enter heartily into the spirit of their assumed characters, though with that appearance of effort and consciousness which betrays the assumption as much as their faces and manner. The gipsies are supposed to be encamped on is verdant plain, and the last stragglers of the train are arriving ; the slant shadows of the long file of wayfarers thrown across the grass, and their forms relieved against the sunny distance, produce a beautiful effect. Dancing, drinking, love-making, story-telling, cooking, nursing, &c. are all going on ; but the business of life is so ostentatiously performed, that it seems as if done for effect rather than from necessity and as a matter of course. In a word, repose, ani- mation, and abandon are wanting to complete the illusion. The execu- tive merits of the painting are great. MactisE's knowledge, power, and facility, are extraordinary, in comparison with the generality of English artists : his grand defect is rigidness of manner, which in- creases the puppet-like angularity of his figures and their action. MACLISE should set himself to depict scenes of high and low life in the present day. He would be equally at home in a night-cellar at St. Giles's, or at a " spree " at the Finish, as in a fashionable evening party, or at a fancy fair. Here is a wide field for the exercise of his talents, where be would be almost without a rival. If he can paint a modern fine gentleman without caricaturing his puppyism, and make a man in coat and trousers appear easy and natural, lie might become an English WATTEAU. Our artists seem to think it beneath them to "paint the living manners as they rise :" it is beyond the ability of many. Where such subjects are attempted, the persons often look like a group of tailOrs' dummies. Mr. GRANT has painted "The Meeting of his Majesty's Stag. hounds, (288,) in which likenesses of a number of fashionables are introduced : each seems to be "sitting" for his portrait, reminding one of those interiors of chapels with heads of Methodist preachers stuck in rows along the tops of the pews. Nevertheless, this picture attracts universal attention ; and makes good the sarcastic re. mark, that people go to the exhibition to see the portraits of their acquaintance.

EDWIN LANDSEER, in his largest work this year, "Return from Hawking," (186,)-but for the dead bird, it should be "Going Hawk- ing," for the party looks more like one setting out-bas introduced portraits of Lord Francis Egerton, his lady, and their children and horses : it is, in fact, a family group, but with too much merit as a composition to be included among the portraits. The incident is told with charming naturalness : the old faleoner is carrying the hawks to their mews, and a little girl is teasing one with a feather from a dead bird, the page who holds the horses looking on : the action of a person straining up to peep over without shifting his position, is capitally

expressed in this figure. The lady on horseback, with her in- fant nestling in her arms, and the gentleman standing ready to re- ceive the child and assist her to dismount, would have made a much more interesting group had the husband and wife been intercban- ging looks with each other or with the child : they both seem sulky and indifferent, which mars what should he the prettiest, as it is the principal, incident in the scene. The heads are mere portraits-the still-life of litimanity,--a strange defect in an artist of such talent. The horses are painted with that surprising skill and dexterity for which LANDSEER is celebrated ; uniting the precise imitation of substance and surface with an elegant freedom of handling, and preserving the living look and individual character of the animal. The painting of the whole picture is perfect,-at least we don't care to point out minute defects in a work of such consummate beauty. The landscape scene in " The Highlands," (160,)-deer-sbooters returning with their game over a bridge in a sort of procession-to which the drooping cheer of the tired sportsmen gives a funereal air, despite the waggery of the urchin who is mocking the strut of a drum-major-is an exquisite little picture, with a delicious brightness of colour and clear fresh tone.

The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner," (I12,) embodies a pathetic sentiment, though a dog is the only mourner the disconsolate look with which he rests his bead on the rude coffin of his dead master, as if conscious that he should never see him again, yet determined not to leave his remains, bespeaks at once the fidelity and grief of the poor beast. LANDSEER has also two inimitable pictures of spaniels, setters, ( 3030 and a couple of lap.dogs of King Charles's breed, (445,) and two hooded falcons, (28 and 34,) which are more admirable and interesting even than many representations of the human species. There are several designs whose pretensions are too slight and ordi- nary to constitute them leading features of an exhibition of this mag- nitude; but if opportunity serve, we may advelt to them among other minor points. Next week we shall pass the scenic pictures in ieview.