put Art.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION,
Year by year the number of our very bad pictures diminishes, and the seriousness, close study, and sound purpose with which art is pursued, increase. Perhaps we are not entitled to ask for more : a great artist is a phenomenon, and even an artist of genius is the exception and a rare one. Still it must be confessed that the laudable spirit and average of our recent exhibitions begins to pall, and that we seem to be no nearer than ever to obtaining anything like a strong proportion of striking, eminent, or noble works—works which it is impossible to forget. The exhibition which opened yesterday to private view at the Royal Academy is entirely a case in point : there are even fewer decidedly remarkable pictures than usual.
A rapid circuit of the rooms will make us acquainted with those works, such as they are, which are the most conspicuous, and which we take simply in their numerical order. In the East Room, we find Mr. Luey'e Burial of Charles the First; an uncommonly complete work by Mr. Cooke, "A Crab and Lobster Shore" ; an Interior and Exterior by Mr. Roberts,—effective, as usual, but marred by his clayey colour ; and two excellent likenesses,—the Marquis of Lansdowne, by Mr. Grant, and Sir Charles Eastlake, by Mr. Knight. Peter the Great in the Dockyard is one of Mr. kfaclise's large pictures, full of figures, and of life too in its ways though borrowed rather from the stage than the streets. The "Scene in Braemar," by Sir Charles Landseer, is still larger, and mal, be appositely called scene-painting. "Titian Preparing to make his I irst Essay in Colouring" is a piece of ultra-l'neraphaelite work by Mr. Dyee, —unfortunately the reverse of Titianesque in its own colour. Mr. Midready occupies the place of honour with "The Young Brother," painted to form part of the Vernon Gallery—one of his refined pastorals, but somewhat tame. "A Signal on the Horizon" is the first of a fresh series of Mr. Hook's charming subjects of mariner life ; and "Port na Spania, near the Giant's Causeway," is anoffective specimen of Stanfield, the principal one that he sends. "Sir Roger de Coverley in Church" could be by none save Leslie : Mr. Herbert's "View on the Coast of France" is less readily assignable to the right author. In the way of portraits again, those of Sir J. F. Burgoyne by Mr. Phillips, Mr. Dallas by Mr. Eddie, and Mrs. Markham and Mrs. Peel by Mr. Grant, are among the most remarkable. Mr. Danby, as you issue from the room, flares upon you with an excessively "Ruddy Morning—the Court, Palace, and Gardens, of Alcinous."
The Middle Room contains Mr. Feed's "First Break in the Family,"— which will be as popular as his other domestic pictures ; and Mr. Millais's "Dream of the Past,"—the largest picture he has yet exhibited, and one of the most effective in colour,—representing a knight carrying two children on horseback across a river. "Miss Hutton, of Lanark," by Sir Watson Gordon, is a head full of character, excellently painted. Mr. Egg has had recourse to Thackemy's "Esmond" for a subject, and has produced a striking interior with figures, somewhat quaint, and in many respects powerful. Far quainter—indeed ludicrously funny—is Landseer's "Uncle Tom and his Wife for Sale,"—a couple of black pugs, which are absurdly like pugs and like Niggers at the same time. "The Spring in the Wood" is Mr. Anthony's Chief contribution; "A Field Conventicle" the only one of Mr. Poole, and more than commonly eccentric. Near this is Mr. Milhtis's second picture, "The Escape of a Heretic, 1559,"—strangely dramatic, and indeed peculiar altogether. Mr. Philip sticks to his Spanish repertory "Charity, Sevilla," is one of his best productions. "A Sculptor's Workshop, Stratford-on-Avon," —the carver of the Stratford bust of Shakspere, with Ben Jonson,--1/3 a work which will not impair the high reputation which Mr. Wallis made by his " Chatterton" ; "Montaigne," further on, will sustain it.
Early in the West Room comes a very delightful pastoral landscape
by Mr. W. ; and then a portrait of David Cox by Mr. Boxall„ which will find small acceptance with any who remember the manly work of Sir Watson Gordon. The rather stale story of "The Pilgrim Fathers" is treated on a large scale,—gravely, but coldly,—by Mr. Cope. "The Child Jesus going down with his Parents to Nazareth" will please those who have sympathized with the mild religious warmth of Mr. Dobson's previous works, but will scarcely move others to admiration. "Waiting for the Verdict" is a strong subject handled in a telling if not too refined manner by Mr. Solomon, Telling also is "Adopting a Child," by Mr. Barwell,, Mr. Ansdell's large work" Ploughing, Seville—is the richest ,and most effective in execution that he has ever produced—not wholly unlike Rosa Bonheur. Here too are portraits of Sir William Williams of Kars by Mr. Tuson, and Mr. Hume by Mr. Walton ; and a truly admirable domestic picture by Mr, Clark, "The Sick Child." Of the Miniature Room much might doubtless be said in detail : at present we can only record some conspicuous specimens by Mr. 'fhorburn, —where nature, however, faros less well than art. The North Room contains, besides the architectural display, a curious pleasant little bit of bygone manners, "Waiting for the Stage-coach, 17th Century," by Mr. J. M. Carrick ; and a lengthy series of designs by Mr. Machee, ranged down the middle of the room,—in which he tolls "The Story of the Conquest," in a manner approximating hi some points of arrangement to that of the Bayeux tapestry.
The Sculpture Room presents, in marble, two or three works previously exhibited in plaster. The most interesting subject in the portrait sculpture is Alfred Tennyson; who appears both in a bust by Mr. Brodie, and, along with other celebrated men, in a medallion by Mr. Woollier. The figure which will excite most attention is the Beatrice Cenci of the American lady, Miss Harriet IIosmer,—a work undoubtedly possessing high qualities of art, and deserving of study.
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