28 JULY 1838, Page 20

FINE ARTS.

RICHARDSON'S SKETCHES ON TILE CONTINENT.

THIS volume of Sketches in Italy, Switzerland, France, Sze. by T. M. RICHARDSON junior, of Newcastle, does nut, we regret to say, realize the expectations raised by the high opinions we had heard expressed of this young artist's talent. In travelling over the well-beaten track of Continental tourists, it was hardly possible to avoid giving many views with which the public are already familiar in other publications ; nor is it to be expected that a tyro would surpass the productions of more practised hands ; but in the earliest and crudest efforts of a student of nature we often find a freshness of perception, or originality of some kind, that more than compensates for crudeness of style and imperfect execution. We are disappointed in the present case. Mr. RICHARD- SON, instead of looking at nature with a new and observant eye, seems to have been content with taking superficial glances ; apparently noting forms only, not effects ; and sketching them in imitation of the styles of others, as if he saw things through their spectacles. The general impression he produces is that of hackneyed commonplace cleverness. We are reminded occasionally of the style of STANFIELD. HARDING, and ROBERTS; but in Mr. RICHARDSON'S version we have their pecu- liarities, not their excellences, rendered into a manner of his own that partakes of the conventional facility of a drawing-master and the lack of knowledge and poverty of' resources of a raw pupil. Allowance is to be made in the lithographic copies for the want of colour, in which particular Mr. RICHARDSON, we have heard, excels ; but, bearing in mind bow finely TURNER translates into black and white, the cold, rigid monotony that characterizes these lithographs, to say nothing of their want of natural effect, would not lead us to infer the beautiful colouring of the originals.

Of the twenty. six subjects, about half the number are drawn on the atone by Mr. RICHARDSON himself; the rest being done by Mr. J. B. PYNE—or, we should say rather, under his direction, for there are dif- ferent hands employed in those attributed to him. However unaccus- tomed the artists may be to the lithographic process, yet the tinted style is so readily available in producing vivid pictorial effects, full of light and warmth, that the failure can scarcely be ascribed to the me- dium. In aiming to produce those surprising effects of calmness and transparency in water and the sunny glow of a cloudless sky, that we admire in HARDING'S sketches, Mr. RICHARDSON has made a vacuum in nature. In the views of Venice, Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore, &c. the water and sky are vacancy: Cologne, with its sunset, has an atmo- sphere. The views of Sallenche and Zurich look like imperfect draw- ings, being destitute of middle tint ; and the two striking street

views of Heidelberg and Degezensano are little more than outlines. The view of Verona, which is elegant as a composition, is feeble in effect ; while that of Strasburg exhibits the mechanicalness of the artist's manner in an extreme degree—the spire of the Cathedral is a pyramid of pins. The Alpine scenes have none of the vastness of the reality : the Convent of St. Bernard is dwarfed to the dimensions of a chalet by the want of a middle distance, and the mule in the ascent of St. Bernard might crop the grass from the top of the ruined castle. The best examples of the artist's manner are the views of the Old Tower, Frankfort, the Bridge at Lyons, Rotterdam, Bellagio, and Como; but these only reach a cold, formal mediocrity, and display none of that feeling which is the charm of a picture. In the Tower of Frankfort, by the way, the hard outline not only bisects the building, but distorts its rotundity. Mr. RICHARDSON may not have cause to regret having thus immaturely come before the public, if this false step be the means of convincing him of his error in catching at the manlier of others instead of forming a style of his own on the only sure basis.... knowledgeand observation. The picturesque taste Ile evinces in se- lecting his points of view, leads us to anticipate his future success, if he will discard mannerism, repair his deficiencies, and trust to his owa perception of what is beautiful in nature.