FINE ARTS.
ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION.
MODERN MANNER OP PAINTING.
EVERY visiter of the Exhibition is painfully sensible of the glare of colour in the pictures ; which is generally attributed to newness of paint- ing. Those who look closer into them become aware of a certain flimsi- ness and superficiality, in some cases partaking of the quality of hard- ness, in others that of mistiness : commonly the surface is opaque like that of a teaboard, but occasionally it has a filmy kind of transparency. The figures in general have neither substance nor rotundity, much less the appearance of life and motion : they look not like breathing forms of flesh and blood but flat and rigid shapes of wood, metal, or leather, covered with paint and varnish. In some instances a partial effect of projection is produced in male portraits by a spot of white on the tip of the nose and a snuffy shadow under it ; or a patch of yellow on the forehead and a smear of brown down one side of the face : but the ladies, who do not like such tricks played with their delicate com- plexions, are rendered vapid and unsubstantial. In only two or three instances do we perceive any attempt to give that effect of rotundity which is visible in a sphere or any rotund body ; the brightness gradually receding into shade from the focal point or spot nearest the light, and the dark side illumined by reflection front the atmosphere or. surrounding objects. These defects evince a want of scientific observation of light and shade, especially in its influence on the lineaments of the face ; for which there is now little excuse, since the photographic miniatures are models for the artist in the study of this important branch of paint- ing. But there are instances of careful attention to light and shade on the part of several designers, whose works we have previously noticed ; though their figures have still an appearance of unsub-
stantiality. This we think results from the prevailing practice of painters in the present day, who omit to model their forms in neutral tint—call it dead colouring—before proceeding to lay on the colours : hence they have not the opportunity of attending, with that minuteness which is desirable, to the delicate gradations of light and shade in in- dividual forms. Indeed, there is every temptation to neglect them : for these gradations have to be expressed in their pictures by certain modifications of the bright hues on the surface ; and, in order to avoid muddling the colours, the local light and shade, on which rotundity of form depends, is slighted; undue reliance being placed on the efficacy of an arbitrary chiaroscuro, or strong general effect, in diverting atten- tion from these niceties.
The most glaring instances of this want of rotundity are seen in W. D. KENNEDY'S large picture, Italy, (562,) the figures being of life- size. There are indications of shade, but not of projection : the head of the male peasant, with his back towards the spectator, has evidently no face on the other side ; it is perfectly flat ; and so are the limbs of the girl dancing with him. The most striking instance of a figure in relief is Eyries Bather, (44); though it is let into the background, to which it is held by a harsh outline. The back of the boy in EAST- LAKE'S beautiful little picture of Hagar and Ishmael, (108,) is delicately modelled, and the indication of bone under flesh is perfect in point of form and colour ; yet the figure wants solidity : it is all surface. The woman in HERBERT'S Christ and the Woman of Samaria, (339,) is wood, not flesh-and blood; and the colour on the edge of her garment and the bright hues of her girdle are everywhere of equal intensity, as though all parts of the drapery were at the same distance from the eye : even -the water-jar is not round. The figures in REDGRAVE'S Going to Service, (468,) are flat and stiff as boards. Those in O'Neu.'s Jephtha's Daughter, (3610 have a semi-transparent look, as though the light that illumines them came from within instead of without. The figure of Spring, (262,) by GEDDES, is equally evanescent and gaudy : it has no form ; for there is neither shade to express rotundity nor outline to define shape. LANCE'S Village Coquette, (606,) is a phantom in a quilted satin petticoat that would stand alone by its substance: every thing is solid but the girl herself. ExTr's Flemish Courtship, (389,) is a mass of gay colours, amidst which it is difficult to make out the forms of the lovers ; such an utter want of keeping does it display. All these glaring defects are ascribable to a want of proper attention to light and shade as a means of representing the retiring surfaces of rotund form and the consequent gradations of colour. Had the forms been first carefully modelled in neutral tint and the colours put on afterwards in due gradations as the parts receded front the light, these faults would have been avoided ; and a transparency of tone—repre- senting the effect of light shining on opaque substances of various
surfaces--might have been produced, which is not visible in any of these pictures. Turn now to the portraits. There are three whole-lengths of ladies in the Great Room,-namely, The Queen, by GRANT, (15,)
Countess Bective, (61,) by PICKERSGILL, and Mrs. Smith Barry, (80,) by FAULKNER,-ill all of which the faces are flat and unsubstantial : below the two last are two heads of ladies by PHILLIPS and KNIGHT, (68 and 75,) that are less filmy, but equally devoid of rotundity ; and on the opposite side of the room is a lady painted by WATSON GORDON, (191,) in the act of vanishing : as an attempt to depict a phantom it would be admirable. There are two portraits of men, Mr. Baily the sculptor, (131,) by T. MOGFORD, and Mr. William Allen, (85,) by T. F. DICKSEF., that look like substantial persons ; though the shadows are too strong, and obviously put on. BRIGGS'S two male portraits, Mr. Benyon de Beauvoir, (130,) and Mr. Hippisley, (52,) are forcible from the same cause : but the brick-dust carnations and gunpowder greys do not represent the hues of flesh. A whole-length Portrait of a Gentle- man, (349,) by C. SMITH, is a figure in bold relief, and the head has living character ; yet here the strong shadow on the side of the face is resorted to. PICKERSGILL'S sitters look as if one side of their faces had been smeared with ink : see his Portrait of a Gentleman, (372,) and others. KNIGHT paints so thick, that his faces, flat as they are, have a substantial look, though livid in tone and with an uneasy glitter of the eye: but Sir George Murray, (206,) looks in a state of decom- position; and Mrs J. Charretie, (540,) is altogether ghostly. There is a Portrait of a Lady, (225,) in the Great Room, by T. C. Donsov, with a white complexion and fixed look, like a cataleptic patient : the face has a semblance of relief on the shaded side, but it is perfectly fiat on the side next the light ; and it has, moreover, a ghastly look of hollowness. Mrs. Burn Callander, (248,) painted by R. S. LAUDER, wears a lace trimming to her dress, that by its solidity makes her head and bust look still more visionary : it is a want of prominence in the head that injures the effect of his whole-length of Professor It ikon, (523); though the affected air, and expression of mingled weakness and ferocity, discredit it as a resemblance of the redoubtable "Christopher North." SAY'S whole-length of The Hindoo Gentleman Dwarkanauth Tagore, (288,) represents the superb Oriental costume very vividly, while the countenance evades recognition, being overpowered by the substance and brilliancy of the dress. We might multiply instances where the velvet and satin, the lace and embrodiery, are prominent objects and the face has to be sought for. Mr. RAMSAY REINAGLE'S sitters, both male mid female, are insubstantial : the faces in his portraits of Mr. 0. Byrne, (408.) and a Young Lady, (549,) look like waxen masks. LINNELL, whose portraits are animated and full of individual character, attains great force and brightness by means of his peculiar mannerism ; yet in his pleasing Portrait of Mrs. Coningham, (449,) the two sides of the face are equally near the eye, though the head is partly turned aside. The most striking exemplification of the effect of a well- studied arrangement of light and shade in producing the appearance of rotundity, is A Study of a Young Man in Ancient Costume, (399,) by M. MOORE ; which has also a luminous tone of colour, resembling the lurid light of fire rather than the sun's rays : we should have thought this had been intended to represent the effect of artificial light, did not other studies by this painter, of similar quality of tone, show that he means it for sunlight. Another head, which has the solidity and animation of life, is the portrait of Mr. J. Jebb, (215,) by S. LAWRENCE; which has the tone of flesh with sunlight on it, and exhibits substantial rotundity without strong shadows or very high lights. The practice of dead colouring, which Sir JOSHUA REY- NOLDS, and other great painters of the English school adopted, has been abandoned, because it was supposed to give heaviness to the colour ; which, however, it need not and should not do if properly managed. The quality of the neutral tints in the light and shade will of course materially affect the colours laid on afterwards ; but the neu- tral tint should be compounded of such hues as will give lustre to the after painting; and in such a case, a brilliancy of tone will be produced that no opaque mass of paint of the most intense brightness will equal. Sit THOMAS LAWRENCE, educated as a crayon painter, and fond of gay colouring, was one of the first oil-painters of eminence who success- fully discarded the practice of REYNOLDS; and we may add, of some of the Old Masters also : with what effect, let the contrast between their pictures show.
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