30 DECEMBER 1854, Page 18

THE ART UNION.

We have received the Report of the Art Union Council for the year which we now for the last time call this year. It shows that the sub- scriptions have amounted to a sum close on 113,0001.; a good annual average. A Flaxman medal has been executed by Mr. Henry Weigel], who was substituted for the late Mr. Wyon on his decease ; a likeneas far from satisfactory, if we are to rely on the engraving in the report as contrasted with the best received portraits. Mr. Thornycroft also has done an equestrian statuette of the Queen at Choblion, of which the print gives an idea favourable enough. It is not unlike the life-sized statue previously produced by the same sculptor. Furthermore, an or- namental vase from a fine example in the British Museum is promised for some future occasion, and a volume of wood-engravings from pictures by deceased British artists.

Mr. J. Hewett, of Leamington, was the receiver of the year's 250/. prize, which he bestowed on Mr. T. S. Cooper's "Common Fare" ; Mr. C. H. M. Black, of Halifax, U. S., gained the 2001. prize; and the name of Mr. Jacob Bell appears as the allottee of a 25/. The Honorary Secre- taries contemplate that, through the agency of the Society, "artists will be led to produce noble works, and the interests of art will be best ad- vanced." Gladly would we share the rose-tinged conviction ; but we confess that, without disparaging the activity which the agency in ques- tion has certainly tended to foster, the production of noble works appears to us to be an inverse statement of its influence. Pictures bought by Art Union prizeholders are not wont to be the cream of British art ; and the large class of pictures which are annually painted with a view to their being so bought encumbers our exhibitions with the flattest bathos to be found there.

As we have before mentioned, Mr. Williore's engraving from the "Water Party" of Mr. J. J. Chalon—an artist whose deserts stand some chance of being recognized now that he is dead—and a volume of wood- cuts illustrative of Childe Harold, are to be given to the subscribers of the ensuing year.