FINE ARTS.

THE WATER-COLOUR EXHIBITIONS.

BOTH the exhibitions of Water-colour Paintings opened this year on the same day. The New Society used to open a week before the Old, and thus the efforts of the young painters were viewed and their merits dis- cussed before the veterans took the field. That was certainly a better arrangement than the present, of having private views of two rival exhibi- tions on the same day: we will not, however, be tempted to institute com- parisons between them, but glance at each separately; giving precedence to

THE OLD WATER-COLOUR SOCIETY.

This exhibition, always the most delightful of the season, becomes every year more highly appretiated by all who prize those fine qualities which

belong to our best painters of English landscape and rural life. This Society is the stronghold of nationality both in subject and style, and, we may add, of sound principles of art: it is the true representative of the British school, whose characteristic excellences are unrivalled by Conti- nental artists.

Landscapes predominate, as usual; and the veterans are in great force. David Cox is equally successful in grand and homely scenes: he dashes in the wild rocky glen and forest glade with rolling clouds, with a vigorous and daring freedom that would be negligent, but that the truth of nature seems best conveyed by what appears careless incompleteness; and then leaving the umbrageous depths and ernpurpled distances of woodland soli- tudes, he exchanges their solemn tone for the dewy freshness of the mead and the warmer brightness of the corn-field: a weedy bank, a brook, a shady lane—the simplest bits of English pastoral—are invested with the charm of natural truth and poetic beauty. Dewint, whose pencil seems saturated with atmosphere, diffuses a genial warmth over the clouded skies and russet ground of his pictures, and makes you feel that sunshine per- vades the scene. A view of Canterbury, with the Cathedral in the dis- tance, towering above the ruddy buildings of the town, that is girdled with a verdurous belt of trees and skirted with golden harvest-fields, dappled with shadows, is one of his most perfect pictures: the deep, mellow tone, glowing brightness, and sweet repose of summer ripening into autumn, are depicted with delicious truth. Both Dewint and David Cox are inimitable in representing the out-door freshness and daylight brightness of our moist climate.

Copley Fielding repeats his well-known types of nature—brown moor- land, and green downs, with mist and shower, grey stormy seas weltering beneath black clouds, and woody landscapes bright with sunset radiance— showing a growing tendency to feebleness and artificiality, the result of working by recipe; repeating the same effects, in similar scenes, again and again, without recurring to nature. When an annual producer of forty or fifty pictures limits their effects to a few varieties, he can scarcely avoid be- coming conventional; and the parsimony of the painter contrasts strangely with the boundless wealth of creation. The good effect of a fresh draught at the fountain-bead is seen in a remarkable picture by W. Evans: A Moun- tain Scene in Carnarronshire on a November Morning, (102,) which is not only totally different from the gay, artificial appearance of this artist's ordi- nary works, but has a grand and impressive character, that he has not at- tained before : the foreground is steeped in twilight gloom, a faint gleam of blue on the river below being visible through the winter darkness, while the rocks are tinged with ruddy light, and the snow-clad mountain rises in spectral whiteness against the grey pall of the clouded sky.

But the most attractive representation of mountain scenery is Harding's great picture—one of the four cardinal points of the exhibition—The Range of the High Alps; Como in the distance. It is one of the artist's finest works, and remarkable for atmospheric effect and repose. The scene is at once majestic and beautiful; the alpine barrier stretches across the horizon, the snowy peaks melting into the skiey distance; and the eye travels over the intervening tract of country before it rests upon the mountain range, whose vastness and extent are admirably conveyed.

A magnificent grove of oaks by Cattermole, arrests attention by the painter's largeness of style and prodigious power of execution: yet we can- not but consider it as a perversion of skill, by which the truth of nature is sacrificed to bravura sweeps of the brush, aud the purity and transparency of the aqueous medium are lost in an impasto of opake colour, that already shows signs of cracking. Mr. Cattermole's imaginative conception and mastery of his art are qualities much too rare and valuable to be wasted upon a mere display of misdirected power: a painter who can impress the mind should leave it to the vulgar to astonish the senses.

Mr. Nash's picture of the Opening of the New Hall, Lincoln's Inn, by Queen Victoria, is an admirable combination of architectural perspective and still life; and doubtless a faithful representation of the material features of the oeremonial festivity. The Royal table with its damask cloth and gold plate forms a brilliant foreground, on which the eye rests before traversing the long vistas of wigs and gowns, between which the illustrious guests are marshalled in procession. Newness and formality, essential characteristics of the scene, are not elements of the picturesque.

The fourth central picture is Alfred Fripp's, of Irish Reapers Meeting their Friends after Harvesting in England; a strange mixture of character and caricature, but evidently studied from living nature. The frantic de- light and irrepressible enthusiasm of poor Pat at finding himself once more among his own people, are expressed with a grotesque intensity, not so far from the reality as might be supposed from the artist's inability to do full justice to his subject. There is perception of character both in physiog- nomy and action, that only needs more matured skill in drawing, compo- sition, and execution, to constitute Mr. Fripp one of our most original painters. W. lIunt's studies of rustic character and interiors are, as usual, glowing with life and sunshine: no artist represents homely realities with such living, genial truth, and force of expression. He always hits the point he aims at, with the ease and certainty of instinct: whether it be humour or pathos—the bloom on a plum or the moss on a spray—a kitchen or a drawingroom—William Hunt's pictures are sure to be characteristic. No artist of the present day equals him in the power of depicting perfect abstraction: his figures are wholly absorbed in what they are about. There is a ploughboy pitching bread to his dog, with an intentness of pur- pose and an intensity of satisfaction quite wonderfuL A sleeping urchin, with relaxed limbs, seems in such danger of falling, that it is quite a relief to perceive that he is lolling against a post. But the darling of this year is a country lass at her toilette: " Saturday " sees her leaning on the chest of drawers that contains her smart dress, enjoying in blissful anticipation the delight of the next day; "Sunday" shows her in the lilac frock and primrose gloves with the gmsy hat and cherry ribbon, contemplating with innocent complacency the perfection of her neatness. The expression of goodnatured contentment is perfect. This may be a little thing to do, but it is a great thing to do so well. Frederick Tayler's pictures of rustic scenes and character are also full of life, and painted with refined art and powerful truth. A group of road- side travellers—a weary soldier and his family resting on a bank; and a poultry yard, in which the various characters of the feathered tribes are ex- hibited with a nice perception of their peculiarities, and animation of a ludicrous kind—are two of the most remarkable.

But we can no longer expatiate; and must be content to note the great advance made by T. M. Richardson junior, whose view of Dunstanborough Castle is one of the best landscapes in the collection; ailithe powerful ef- fect obtained by S. Rayner in his views of Haddon Hall; though we still object to this overloaded manner of painting, and ostentatious display of forcible handling. G. Fripp's landscapes are this year somewhat black and cold in tone, and hard and glassy in texture. Octavius Oakley has a highly finished portrait picture of a family group in Oriental costume; the only fault of which is too great smoothness. George Harrison and Samuel Palmer are improving in their treatment of foliage; as are Arthur Glennie and W. Callow in architectural views. The sea pieces of Bentley are scarcely susceptible of improvement; and Prout, Nesfield, Gastineau, and other veterans, have long attained the height of their reputation. John Wright's ladies and Bartholomew's flowers are alike blooming and lovely.

NEW SOCIETY OF WATER-COLOUR PAINTERS.

The talent and energy displayed by the New Society, the members of which continue to improve in their art while they increase in numbers, makes this exhibition interesting for its indications of progress. Designs of figures here predominate, and large pictures of Scriptural and historical subjects are prominent features: but, after admiring the boldness and elabo- ration of such ambitious attempts, we rest with greater satisfaction on smaller works or homelier scenes, in which success is attained, and with- out effort. Edward Corbould's finished picture from his cartoon of the Entry of the Boy King, Henry the Sixth, into Lendon, is full of cleverness, and shows facility of execution, but it does not rise to the dignity of history: it is a splendid theatrical pageant, in which the persons are subordinate to the costumes. His Christ Raising the Daughter of Jairus awakens no emo- tion ; but while this is passed by, the graceful figure of a girl with a basket cff poultry on her bead, "For Sale," attracts and delights every visiter. E.

H. Wehnert has three pictures, showing extraordinary power of a homely sort, with an alloy of exaggeration. Wicklif Defying the Mendicant Friars is full of purpose and action; but its force is of a melodramatic kind: the great Reformer seems as if he were about to assault the Friars, who recoil as if fearful of his physical prowess. The Escape of the Emperor of _Ger- many from assassination is still more overcharged. The best of the three is George Fox the Quaker, at his devotions: in which the enthusiastic cha- racter is vigorously portrayed. J. Absolon has tried his skill on Fair Rosamond; but he is much more successful in a rustic group playing " Thread-the-needle," where rural aim plicity is refined, not destroyed, by touches of ideal grace.

Louis Haghe has another picture of Rnbens, whom he this year represents painting the Chapeau de Faille; and there is some rich and brilliant colouring in parts, though as a whole the picture is deficient in animation and harmo. ny of tone. His interiors are much more admirable: the Brewers' Corporation- Room, Antwerp, and its staircase, with a sunlight effect such as De Hooghe is famed for, show where the artist's forte lies.

F. Topham's studies of Irish cabins and cottiers are so characteristic and beautiful, that one wishes he had many more such pictures as "Mavourneen I" a mother watching her sleeping infant: it is full of tender sentiment and picturesque truth. Joseph Jenkins is not happy this year in his choice of subjects: his soldiers are not comparable with his graceful damsels. William Lee, a new member, gives promise of excellence in his Tired Soldier; H. Warren has another of his characteristic and effective scenes in the desert; and Messrs. Weigall and Kearney exhibit history pieces, as usual. The ladies, though Miss Setchel is still missed, have been reinforced: • in addition to kriss Fanny and Louisa Corbaux, Miss Jane Egerton puts forward claims to notice as a figure-painter; and Miss Fanny Steers in landscape bids fair to take the lead: her view on .Rustall Common, Tun- bridge Wells, has the charm of simple truth and freshness; and in other • sketches there is evidence of a nice appreciation of the characteristics of English rural scenery and natural effects, that only require more matured command of the resources of art to develop these good qualities in per- fection.

E. Duncan is in great strength this year; on land and at sea he is equally at home. A Pastoral Scene, of a grove of trees on a river's bank, with the snnset glancing under the green covert, is a lovely picture; though the radiance of sunlight is rather tawny. The Worm's Head, South Wales, is a very fine painting, remarkable for neatness of finish, and the ex- pression of space and atmosphere. A Dutch Ferry, and Ludlow Castle,-are the most remarkable of his other works; all of which are conscientiously studied from nature.

G. Dodgson exhibits a few elegant compositions of architecture and landscape gardening, evincing a refined taste in design and considerable skill in execution; though the colouring is deficient in transparency and clearness. A large view of the Louvre, showing the quay and bridges over the Seine, by T. S. Boys, is a masterly piece of architectural perspective, and a clever drawing, though low in tone: A picturesque view at Frank- fort by G. Howse, an Interior of the Hall of Justice, Bruges, by John Chase, some fresh sunny landscapes by W. Oliver, and picturesque views by Messrs. Jutsum, Lindsay, Maplestone, D'Eg,ville, Hardwick, Youngman, Robertson, Telbin, and others, with some figure pieces by Alfred Taylor, sea pieces by John Callow and T. S. Robins, and Mrs. Margett's flowers, make up a varied and gratifying display.