FINE ARTS.
THE ART-UNION OF LONDON.
A FEW of the first fruits of direct encouragement to fine art afforded by this society have reached us, in the shape of a portfolio of Designs in Outline, by Mr. HENRY C. SELOUS, illustrative of 1:JUNTAS'S Pilgrim's Progress : and they are of a very promising kind. The Committee of the London Art-Union being desirous of doing something more than merely causing a few thousand pounds to be expended annually on pictures, good, bad, or indifferent, according to the taste and judgment of their prize-holders, resolved to offer annual premiums of sixty pounds for the best series of ten designs in outline' and the result of their first announcement was thirty sets of designs, from which these by Mr. H. C. SELOUS were selected as most worthy of the prize. Honorary premiums of twenty pounds were likewise awarded to each of the three following artists,-to Mr. J. N. Pelvic, for a series of designs from Prometheus Unbound ; to Mr. J. TENNIEL junior, for a series from Griselda ; and to Mr. F. R. PICKERSGILL, for a series from (Join us. It having been determined to engrave the series from the Pilgrim's Progress by Mr. SELOUS, the artist very handsomely presented the Society with twelve additional designs, to complete the illustrations ; the whole twenty-two are being engraved by HENRY MOSES; and a copy of them will be presented to each of the subscribers for the current year, in addition to the usual print. Truly the guinea subscribed to the Art- Union of London is well invested, when, in addition to the certainty of a set of twenty-two designs, and a line-engraving by GOODALL after a picture by STANFIELD, the subscriber has the chance of one of the many prizes which range from 10/. to 4001., besides bronze groups and silver medals! This is bestowing premiums on the public for "patron- izing" the arts. Indeed, the subscribers are better treated than the artists in the way of premiums : the successful competitor is rewarded at the rate of about 6/. for each design, which his own liberality has reduced to less than 3/.; the three next worthy are better off, because in addition to their twenty pounds they retain their designs ; but the other twenty-six competitors have nothing to repay them for their trouble, or soothe the mortification of failure. They may not have de- served it, to be sure : that, however, is known only to the Committee; for there was no exhibition of the designs sent in, as there should have been.
Eleven only of the twenty-two designs for the Pilgrim's Progress have reached us ; the remaining half not being yet out of the engraver's hands : it is hardly the time, therefore, to criticize them in detail. These outlines remind us of RETZSCH'S ; to which they are not inferior in drawing and composition. The style of Mr. SELOUS is remarkable for grace and elegance of an artificial kind, to which he is apt to sacri- fice character : the skill of the artist is more apparent than the spirit of the author whose conceptions he embodies. Nor does the classic pic- turesqueness of the figures and groups harmonize with the homely sim- plicity and vigorous naturalness of JOHN SUNTAN'S descriptions : the artist seems to have been content to take the text of the inspired tinker as a subject for a theme, which he works out in his own way : but as the designs are separate from the work, there is the less objection to this course. Mr. HENRY MOSES has executed his task of engraving the outlines in a manner calculated to sustain his high reputation for this kind of art.
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