FINE ARTS.
BRITISH INSTITUTION: COPYING OLD MASTERS. THE annual exposition of incompetence on the part of the persons per- mitted to copy pictures by great masters at the British Institution took place thie week: the evidences of inability to imitate the fine works left for this purpose, and to perceive the principles on which they were painted, were as numerous and glaring as usual. The spectacle was lamentable, yet ludicrous withaL At th.. end of the North Room, the Madonna of SASSO FERRATO, with downcast eyes and uplifted hands— her beauteous face, radiant with serene delight and maternal fondness, shaded by the folds of her white mantle—was surrounded by a host of heads, each one in the same drapery and the same posture, mocking the sweetness they could not emulate, in a curious variety of grimaces : on one side of the room, Madame Wouvermans, painted by VANDER HELST, was flanked by a bevy of imitators, that seemed ugly with spite and vexation at not being able to rival the dark lustrous eyes that give spirit and dignity to her sensible and goodnatured face; or even to vie with the glossy richness of her black satin gown and the crisp whiteness of her lace stomacher : on the other side, a Romantic Landscape, by GASPAR POUSSIN, found a variety of copyists, no two of whom were agreed as to the forms, much less the tone of the picture. It was not to be expected that such a marvellous work as the Portrait of Cornelius Van Hooft, the Translator of Homer into Dutch, by REMBRANDT, should have found a student able to depict the look of profound thought and abstraction visible in the furrowed 'brow, the dim eye, and patient mouth of the meditative scholar : neither was it probable that such a master- piece as the Infant Christ and St. John with the Lamb, by LE0- NARDo DA VINCI, would be copied successfully ; the playful smile of innocence that beams in the face of the infant Saviour—lighting up the eyes with intense delight, and wreathing the lips into an undulating curve that almost defies the pencil to trace—could only be caught by a kindred spirit: nor is the speaking earnestness of the little St. John scarcely less inimitable : but the plain homely lineaments of Madame Woavermans, nay, even the tranquil loveliness of the Madonna of Sasso FERRATA, which though beatific is not divine, might have met with suc- cessful copyists among minds of ordinary intelligence. The failures, therefore, prove the students to be deficient in technical skill, as well as in refinement of perception. The authenticity of this exquisite picture of LEONARDO DA VINCI, which belongs to Lord ASHBURTON, has been questioned, but, in our opinion, without sufficient reason : we think it far better entitled to be received as an original than the Christ Disputing with the Doctors, in the National Gallery, or than many works of other great masters that pass unquestioned. Judging of its merits by the only satisfactory test, namely, the influence of the picture on the mind of the beholder, we are not disposed to doubt its originality. True, the drawing of the extremi- ties, the hands especially, is defective ; and the lamb looks too liken toy : but the force and delicacy with which the flesh of both figures is wrought up, so as to convey the idea of warmth, rotundity, and elasticity of limb—the wondrous .depth of the chiaroscuro, the harmonious tone of colouring, and above all the exquisite subtilty and animation of the in- fantile action and expression, are self-evident manifestations of powers of the highest kind' exercised by the painter, whoever be be. The REMBRANDT may not be an original either ; perhaps it is more ques- tionable than the LEONARDO: the tinted mud which is the medium of colour and form is less luminous than we are wont to see reflecting the magical lights and shadows of REMBRANDT : but even this cloudy adum- bration of a mortal shape is so suggestive of the soul within, that we are content to regard it man acceptable representative of a marvellous creation of art.
Among the other pictures left for execution, the sight of which made one forget the abortions .around them, were the two whole-lengths of the Marchese Maria and Isabella Grimaldi. by 'Bunnies—two blooming beauties of the -finest corporeal order : the Lady Isabella, who is in her bridal dress, has been honoured by the painter with a compliment, as rare as it is handsome ; RUBENS has written his name, adding to the "pinxit," "et cum singulari devotione." The School by JAN STEEN—a picture with more coarseness than humour ; the colossal St. Christo- pher, ascribed to A NNIBA.LE CARACCI—a mere Brobdignag porter ; and one or two other pictures of less note, afforded scope for the employ- ment of much greater skill in the executive part of painting than any of the copyists possessed.
After all, copying the finest pictures, even by competent hands, is la- bour wasted, so far as the student's progress is concerned—as an habi- tual practice it is injurious. Studies of the colour and effect of parti- cular works are useful as memoranda, and finished copies are of course valuable to possess ; but too much time and pains are bestowed on 'try- ing to do what great painters have done oefore, inimitably 'well. No artist who tries to paint like another ever paints so well as he would had he taken his own course : but to strike out a style of his own, he must have some sound and well-understood principles to go upon ; principles derivedfrom observation of nature as well as of the works of other artists—from a study of the theory as well as the practice of art. Had the tyros who have spent so much time in vainly endeaxouring to copy the pictures at the British' Institution, taken half the thought and paws to trace in the works berore them the genius of the great painters, as shown in their :intimate knowledge of the art, their high feeling for what is grand and beautiful in nature, and the influence of their kart. ginitions in elevating the real to the ideal, they would have profited much more.
If the Directors of the British Institution are really desirous to render its advantages beneficial to the instruction of the rising generation of artists, they might do so by inviting lecturers conversant with the tech- nical and the spiritual part of painting, to explain to the students the principles on which the great painters proceeded in embodying their conceptions by means of an imitation of nature ; and to point out those qealities which are admirable, or to be avoided, in their winks. More really good and useful information would be conveyed in a discourse on two or three well-selected pictures placed before the listeners' eyes, than could possibly be afforded without the examples : if the lecturer were an artist, too, he might demonstrate his meaning on canvass, in the practical portion of his discourse. Considering what at- traction there is in a collection of pictures, we wonder that teachers do not walk the galleries with students, as surgeops walk the hospitals with their pupils—illustrating their precepts by visible instances, and de- ducing general principles from particular qualides.
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