NEV PRINTS.
JOHN MARTIN has submitted another historical event to that peculiar pictorial process which he so successfully applies to all kinds of sub-
jects. Marcus Curtius leaping into the Gulf, is a composition of his usual materials for producing a scene of epic grandeur,—namely, a city of temples, and impossible dwellings piled up to the sky, with colon-
nades stretching out into endless perspective ; multitudes of people with a few portentous priests shrouded in dark drapery, and women fainting in white, in the foreground ; and the accompaniments of rocks, murky clouds, and flashes of lightning. A little figure on a white horse taking a flying leap into the yawing chasm, is the only denotement of the event. The city might be taken for Babylon or Nineveh with more probability than for ancient Rome ; the Coliseum is eclipsed by a restoration of the Parthenon ; and Doric columns, with arches be- tween, form the prevailing feature of the nondescript architecture. The immense masses of buildings, the vastness and the black-and- whiteness, combine to produce an imposing effect on the eye; but it does not realize the scene to the understanding. Mr. MARTIN has also put forth another pair of Scriptural prints, in mezzotint,namely, The Opening of the Seventh Seal, and the Flight into Egypt. We wish we could feel the sublimity which MARTIN'S admirers perceive in them : to us the grandeur appears empty extrava- gance, and the imagination unnatural conceit. One is a sea resembling a cabbage-leaf, with three rocks looking like huge tilt-hammers in mo- tion, and an explosion of lightning, imitated, probably, from a vein in a bit of spar. The other is a city of palaces, with a background of rocky mountains, a sky tightly laced with clouds like fibres of eaoutchoue stretched out to their utmost power of extension, and a rock in the foreground, with a spectral holy family. At any rate, there is nothing new in either it is MARTIN over again in both cases.
Cowns's pretty picture, The Sale of the Pet Lamb, has been engraved in mezzotint by S. W. REYNOLDS, the engraver of this artist's truly English delineation of Sunday in the Country, to which it forms a most appropriate companion. There is a charm of innocence and simplicity in COLLINS'S paintings that gives interest to the most trivial subject, and redeems his now enfeebled powers of conception and exe- cution. The infantine pathos of the incident of a pet lamb taken from its urchin playfellows is well depicted : one child is giving the pet a farewell hug, another is tempting it with a bowl of milk ; a third is angrily pushing the butcher's boy, who, with rope in hand, smiles at their. distress, looking a most innocent cut-throat ; while the victim has literally a very sheepish aspect : the butcher telling the price into the mother's hand completes the narrative. The necessity for parting with the lamb, we may remark, appears to be caused rather by its approximation to • state of mutton than by the need of the seller, for the children seem well fed and neatly clad. The cottage and the tree nuke up a pleasing rustic scene. 1 be effect of the plate is forcible;
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though the imitation of a deep and sober tone of green in mezzotint... '.
almost unavoidably too black and heavy.
The Duke of WELLINGTON'S popularity seems to be recovered from the shock it received from his Ministerial career ; for not only now ' promised a brace of bronze statues, but a copperplate of his crowning ' achievement is put forth,—and publishers whether of prints or booki are shrewd observers of the signs of the times. lirellingion at Moen loo is the taking title of a very nice mezzotint by Baomi.Ev, from a picture by ABRAHAM COOPER, representing the Duke, n la LswasNc; on a fiery charger, giving orders to a general officer. The composed and courtly air of ;he two commanders, and the quiet way in which the .. dragoons are charging, show how coolly veterans behave in the field. The incident of Sir THOMAS PICTON being borne off mortally wounded, does not discompose the review-like calmness of the scene, or pre, vent us from admiring the two fine horses which figure SO conspicu. ously in the foreground. One of poor EDMONSTONE'S pretty pictures of homely life, 77,, k White Mouse, has been engraved in mezzotint by Plumes—somewhat I coldly. It represents one of the mendicant Italian boys seated park-gate with a white mouse which he is letting run about his person .. for the amusement of a girl and her little brother, who are watching the lively movements of the little creature very intently. The Italian . boy is a characteristic study; and the look of pleasurable interest in the girl's face, and her attitude, are good • but the child is theatrical in air, costume, and posture ; which mars the simplicity of the scene.
The largest specimens of the tinted style of lithography are a pair of landscape sketches by GEORGE BARNARD,—a view of Heidelberg on the Rhine, from the heights of the castle, looking down on the town, and showing the windings of the river through the distant plain; and another of Bellagio, on the Lake of Como, with the mountains beyond. They are characteristic scenes of the two countries, and ths atmosphere is bright and clear ; but there is a thin wiry hardness in the drawing, and a want of breadth and power in the effect, that give them a look of meagreness. A spirited and characteristic likeness of Mr. Eliason, the violin. player, sketched in crayons by HART, in a bold and masterly style, its been lithographed by Stinar.
The Infant Wesley is the title of a portrait of a noble boy, of twos? three years old, a great-grandson of the Reverend CHARLES WESLEY, though bearing the surname of NEWENHAM. It is cleverly painted by a relative, FREDERICK NEWENHAM, and engraved in mezzotint by PAYNE. We presume that the print possesses some interest beyond the mere resemblance of a child with fine large eyes and a precocious look of power and intelligence : perhaps he is an infant organ-player.
In the Fourth Part of' RYALL.S Portraits of Conservative Statesman ROSTOCK has given Lord Londonderry the sentimental air of one inspired ; Alooal: has portrayed Sir Charles Wetherell taking a side. long glance, and simperingly holding his tongue between his teeth. and ; RICHMOND represents Mr. Eininerson Tt imant as a lackadaisical ex. . (visite of the first water, " a sallow, sulilinie sort of Werter-faced , man." If these fascinating faces do lint convert the fiercest Radicals to 'Toryism, the limners may give up painting people en beau, and take to truth, for there is no efficacy in flattery.
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