FINE ARTS.
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.
AN able review of the Modern Schools of Art in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, in Blackwood's Magazine for this month, closes with the following passage- " One thing we could greatly wish to see realized, and that is, a general in- ternational exhibition of works of art, at stated periods, from all the living schools of Europe ; a congress of art, if it might be so called, at which the leading masters of each school might show to their rivals and pupils their own productions, and at which the relative merits of the various systems might be fairly compared and appreciated. The interchange of ideas, the communica- tion of practice, the establishing of sound fixed principles, and the universal correction of all extravagances which such a concourse would produce, could not fail of working wholesome changes and effecting much real improvement. Petty jealousies and rivalries would he softened down ; artists would learn to esteem each other; and patrons would be thrown into contact with all the best painters of each country. But even for this, the assistance and protection of Government would be wanted; and in the furtherance of a plan of this nature, a step of no small importance would be taken towards advancing the general civilization of Europe, and towards the maintaining of mutual good-will be- tween the various countries of which it is composed. That any thing of the kind will be done, we have, we confess, more hope than we have expectation."
We threw out a suggestion of a similar kind some time ago, and it gives us pleasure to see the like proposition made by a writer who proves himself fully competent to appreciate the advantages that would accrue to the fine arts of every country from its adoption. What visiting foreign countries is to the philosopher, seeing the works of other schools is to the painter : it enables him to view the productions of his countrymen in a new light, and to perceive qualities, whether good or bad, that had previously escaped notice ; it shows him the faults of his own school and the excellences of others, and stimulates him to supply the deficiencies of which he is thus made sensible. Painting and sculpture are the most universal of the arts ; they appeal to the people of every country ; in proportion as they approach the ideal they reject national peculiarities, academic conventionalites, and individual mannerisms. The Elgin Marbles and the Cartoons of RAPHAEL belong to no school. The glow of Italian art, like a flood of sunshine, ripened the rich Flemish harvest of RIIBENS'S genius and mellowed the luxuriant fruits of his fertile invention, which he poured forth in prodigal profusion from the plenteous horn of his fancy ; and It was witnessing MICITAKII. ANGELO'S power that opened the mental vision of RAPHAEL to the perception of a new and higher region, in which his fine imagination could soar with expanded wings. To come down to the homely efforts of our countrymen, we can trace the influ- ence of ZUCCHERO, HOLBEIN, VANDYKE, and other painters who prac- tised their art in England on contemporary portraiture; and the study— not the imitation—of the works of other masters is the best means for an artist to improve his Own: the very vices of other schools would teach him what to avoid, for the worst performance is not without its lesson to an apt understanding. The pictures by foreign artists that have lately found admission into our Exhibitions—such as The Horrors of the Slave-trade, by BIARD, The Death of Calvin, by HORNUNG, Strafford going to Execution, and Charles the First Insulted by the Parliamentary Soldiers, by DELAROCHE- are of a kind to challenge attention to the schools which produced them. Germany, even more than France and Belgium, would afford us fine examples of the power of modern art, developed by the enlightened and liberal patronage of the King of Bavaria ; and both the spirit and style of the German schools would be more congenial to our Saxon blood than those of the French.
We differ from the writer of the article quoted above in his estimate Of the French school—which we think too favourable : we go the whole length of his admiration of the method of the Parisian school ; and con- cur in his praises of the drawing, grouping, and executive skill of the French artists generally : but not only is their colouring for the most part detestable, from its opacity, coldness, and harshness, but the spiri- tual part of their painting is gross and vicious almost to depravity. The French painters of historical and poetical subjects not only derive their costumes and attitudes, but study character and expression, from the stage ; hence their taste acquires a morbid character, and their style becomes theatrical : they depict heroes and heroines occupied with themselves, affecting sentiments they do not feel, and assuming at- titudes for the sake of effect : in short, their paintings reflect the world they live in—the theatre ; their virgins are coquettes, their saints bearded "models"; and the accessories of the picture are made principals. The end of the artist seems to have been to display his own knowledge and skill—to shock or startle the beholder, not to present the character or the scene to the mind in such a manner as to awaken the feelings by recalling the incident : it is the mere parade of art. The two pictures by DELAROCHE, before mentioned, are scarcely exceptions to this censure, though far less objectionable than the mass of modern French histcrry--pieces : we appeal to any one who looked attentively at these works, whether the picture of Charles the First Insulted by the Parliamentary Soldiers did not excite more disgust at the incident than sympathy for the King, and that of Strafford Going to Execution elicit admiration of the costumes rather than of the constancy of the sufferer. Yet of Palm DELAROCHE, the writer in Blackwood says, "he may be called an historical paiaterpar eminence." His praises in detail of the French painters are, indeed, materially qualified by his wholesale condemnation of their pictures ; and we entirely agree with him in his opinion, that "nine out of ten of the paintings lately executed fbr Versailles might be burned without any loss to the world of art." In the science of painting the French school is far before the English, but in taste and feeling it is greatly inferior : we could learn more from them than they from us, for this very reason; for exact knowledge may be acquired, but all else must depend on sensibility and imagination.
To return to the subject of international exhibitions. To adopt the plan on a fitting scale, a new gallery would he required : four historical pictures, of the size that French artists are accustomed to paint, would fill one of the parlours at Trafalgar Square—that is if they could be got in at the doors ; but by the time our artists and the public are ripe for such a project, we may have a suite of rooms worthy the name of a National Gallery, whatever the collection may be. The present Go- vernment would be more likely than any previous one to entertain the notion of cooperating with other Governments for the gratuitous trans- mission and exhibition of the works, of foreign artists.
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