FINE ARTS.

SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS.

THIS Society is notorious for having the worst exhibition of modern pictures in London ; and it maintains its bad eminence this year. The present display in the Suffolk Street Gallery is characterized by ludicrous deficiency of skill and lamentable ignorance of the true prin- ciples of art. At a first glance, the grotesque salient points that succes- sively strike the eye provoke ridicule by their preposterous absurdity ; but this impression gives place to graver feelings—pity for the hopeless incapacity of some, regret at the misdirected talent of others, and indig- nation at the misappropriation of a public gallery, one of the best- lighted in the Metropolis. And when we reflect upon the advantage that is taken by a few interested persons of the incidental connexion of the Art-Union with this Gallery, it becomes a duty to expose a system of operations by which a handful of artists, most of them below medio- crity, are enabled to place their works conspicuously before the public, to the exclusion of those of their superiors. The members of this Society, in humble imitation of Royal Academicians, monopolize all the best places in the rooms : it is no uncommon thing for one member to send in ten or a dozen of his own performances • we counted nearly two hundred contributed this year by about a score. frhen they have served themselves, the remaining space is open to any one—who will pay for it: a fee of five shillings is the only qualification of admittance. The AMU daub and the most boantifulpainting fare alike ; or, if any thing,

the best pictures have the worst places. The consequence is, that those artists only who have a reputation to gain, or none to lose, resort to Suffolk Street ; or if one of a higher grade, in despair of getting his works seen elsewhere, comes to the Society of British Artists—the " Refuge for the Destitute"—the company he finds himself amongst and the treatment he meets with soon cause him to retire in disgust.

As to the members themselves, so far from improving they deterio- rate : nor is this surprising, since they rarely if ever come into compe- tition with superior talent. Having no standard of excellence, and quantity, not quality, being their object, they repeat themselves, with a gradual diminution of good qualities ; and, as they all sink together, their downward progress becomes imperceptible to each other. Even Mr. HOLLAND, the only one among them whose works evince fine taste and masterly execution combined with a vivid perception of nature and knowledge of art, shows symptoms of declining power, in the coldness

and negligence of his painting. His best picture is Piazza Signori, Verona„(544,)—a piece of architectural perspective, full of character and admirably drawn, with a pleasing effect of cool shade in the fore- ground, contrasted with sunny brightness in the distance ; though the colouring is opaque and the light is deficient in warmth. His view of Lake Leman, (15,) is a sketch, not a picture ; and devoid of atmosphere and space. It is grievous to see an artist of so much talent in danger of losing his reputation. The only attempt at the grand style of design is by fluessroes- The Sons of Jacob bringing the blood-stained garment of Joseph to their Father, (117.) It is a well-meant effort beyond the artist's powers;

the heads are plagiarisms; form, character, and expression are all vaguely defined ; and the colouring is heavy, dirty, and inharmonious: in short, the picture is not only unimpressive but positively disagreeable, Such ludicrous abortions as Mr. LATILLA'S Hagar and Ishmael, (80,)

and Cupid Pretending to be Ill, (70,) by J. P. DAVIS, are only notice- able as exemplifying the deplorable results of conceit and incapacity

combined. E. PRENTIS has degenerated into a vulgar and maudlin cari- caturist : his series of six scenes called Love's Trials, (210,) is alike feeble in conception and execution ; his petty puling treatment of the subject lowering the tone of sentiment, while the mean exaggeration of peculiarities deprives the representation of that literal truth at which this painter aims. H. J. PIDDING is an artist of the same stamp, though the comic is his vein, not the sentimental : his Old Tar doing Penance,

(182,)—a group of Greenwich pensioners—and Settlement of the Corn- laws, (450,)—a party of rustics disputing in an alehouse—are literal

studies of individual peculiarities of feature and costume, but with no dramatic development of character or humour. This is not fine art, but vulgar art. And in the same category must be classed G. STEVENS'S staring portraits, in which flesh assumes the flatness, hardness, and

smoothness of porcelain. His Antwerp Fruit-Girl, (223,) is a miracle of bad art : the peaches, nectarines, and plums are as palpable decep-

tions as alabaster mockeries of fruit, and as hard ; there are mulberries that would break one's teeth, and grapes as solid as grape-shot ; sub- stantial cherries, suspended in mid air, defy the law of gravitation ; and colours of intense brightness are deprived of their power of reflection. This is an extraordinary instance of mechanical imitation of the shape and local hues of objects of " still-life "—for humanity is here reduced to that condition—by a painter who totally overlooks all indications of texture and substance, and who is wholly unacquainted with the laws of nature and the principles of art in relation to colouring. In contrast tel the rigid, smooth, and glaring effigies of G. STEVENS, are the ragged,

flimsy, fluttering figures of J. ZEITTER ; whose unsubstantial scenes

seem peopled with shapeless scarecrows. A. J. WOOLMER, who revels' in the non-natural—for that cannot be called the ideal which is idea-

less—alternates between the gaudy and the gloomy : The Castle of 1w. dolence, (167,) a green and yellow scene strewn with red and white draperies ; and Manfred, (318,) a black and blue solitude haunted by a visionary figure beneath a solid rainbow, are examples of Mr. WooL- size's aspirations towards the sublime and beautiful. Some heads by C. BAXTER, a whole-length of an old gentleman by J. Hawes, (179,) and a Spanish lady, (537,) by J. M. LEIGH, are the only tolerable pieces of portraiture. Mr. HERVIEU has shown up Mr. J. S. Buckingham, as large as life, in a very amusing manner ; Mr. J. HOLMES exhibits some literally "staring" likenesses of ladies and gen- tlemen ; and Mr. C. DOANE has converted an officer and a barrister into figures of fan.

Landscapes abound ; and among them are some pretty studies of lane- scenes and the homely beauties of nature : but they are all equally superficial, though in different ways : they appear like slight sketches made with colours instead of crayon. The light and shade necessary to convey an idea of the projection and relative position of houses and trees ; the mobility of figures and foliage, the liquidity and fluency of water, and the sense of atmosphere and distance, are wanting. A huge artificial scene, compounded of dark rocks and a bright river garnished with structures like the fishing-temple at Virginia Water and the Pavilion at Brighton, gaudily painted, is called The Stream of Plea-

sure, (235,) by J. TENNANT : it has neither natural truth, ideal beauty, nor moral force. The small landscapes of this artist are clear and sunny, but of metallic hardness. A large landscape, by J. W. ALLEN,

Oakford Bridge, Devon, (40,) shows a feeling for natural beauty ; but it has neither coherence of effect nor harmony of colour : it is " a thing of shreds and patches "; and the same may be said of his smaller pictures.

J. B. PYNE is more chalky and flimsy, and his colouring more crude and garish than ever. In his largest marine scene, Mulgrave Alum- works, Yorkshire Coast, (178,) and in some others, the sea is the only solid part ; and it too is spotted with the lather so thickly daubed on the sky and distant cliffs. Mr. PINE'S pictures look like unskilful imi- tations of TURNER'S faults, by one who is unacquainted with the prin- ciples on which his prototype proceeds. H. LANCASTER has an eye for natural effects, which he represents truly in part: there is bright sun- shine in his Dutch landscape, Wailing for the Ferry, (85,) but the fo-

liage and figures are alike fixtures ; and the lurid light of a stormy sun- set is truly depicted in Lee Shore, (479,) though the rocks and sky are

equally slaty in hue and texture. H. J. BODDINGTON'S lane-scenes are attractive for their rural simplicity and graceful pencilling; yet his trees are mere bushes, without even their amount of shade and substance. The rocks and trees of J. WILSON junior are still more unsubstantial: they look as though they had been boiled, or reduced to a state of de- composition. The sea and coast-scenes of J. WILSON senior are vapid in the extreme : they appear like weak beginnings blurred all over. ALFRED CLINT has sadly fallen off: his attempt to represent the foam of the sea is puerile in the extreme-mere random sweeps of the brush without meaning. C. Simms has some slight sketches, in which a little spot only is finished, and all the rest is left vague : yet there is some- thing promising in these faint indications, if the young artist did but know bow to proceed. A. MONTAGUE, also, has perceptions of nature that are worth cultivating : but in his Green Lane, (610,) he represents nature in a state of dissolution ; nothing holds together. E. CHILDE'S taoonlight and other landscapes are so painfully bad, that a feeling of compassion for the utter decrepitude and imbecility of the painter stifles the sense of ridicule. There is a landscape in which the repose and harmony of nature, space, atmosphere, and reflection, are combined agreeably-Durham, (166,) by T. M. RICHARDSON senior ; though in this the buildings want solidity, and the style has the weakness of water-colours. Our attention was attracted to a pretty little bit of nature, in a corner close to the ground, by J. THORPE, which deserves mention ; the subject is Broughty Ferry Castle, Dundee, (215.) In order that no class of subjects may lack its peculiar phmnomenon, Mr. HERRING has supplied one to the animal department. He has painted three horses standing in a stream, which be sillily calls Hydro- bibists, (102,) that appear as if falling out of the picture : though each, is at a little distance from the other, they are all painted as though equally near to the eye; and thus they seem to be in vacuo.

The Water-colour Room contains one clever picture, by a name new to us-Pier and Castle, Dover, (670,) by D. H. liii`lEzwew: the effect of the sea-breeze is admirably depicted, and the execution is remark- able for power and dexterity. Two or three elaborate Interiors of Westminster Abbey, by J. DOBBIN, are noticeable as the productions of a self-taught artisan, who evinces extraordinary aptitude and per- severance : a diligent study of the laws of nature and the principles of art will earn for him that distinction which his native talent, if pro- perly directed, qualifies him to attain. Some beginnings of pictures by J. RIDER are promising enough to be worth finishing-if the artist is able.

The Sculpture, chiefly by Messrs. MARSHALL and LUCAS, is of a very mediocre description.