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SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATER COLOURS.
THE private view of this daightful exhibition took place -on Satur- day last, and despite the damp, oral, and darkness of the -day, was numerously attended. Both visitors and artists were, however, re- paid.for climatic inconveniences—the former by the unusual quantity of good -work produced for their enjoyment ; the latter by the rapidity with which the "sold" tickets were affixed to the drawings. It there is a dearth of figure subjects, there is an ample supply of landscape, -both in quality and dimensions. Weed, I have seldom noticed so maity,drawings of large sure as are exhibited this year. If the pre- sent rage for gigantic water-colour pictures continues, the members will scarcely find room for the display of . their works, and enlarge- ment a their present premises -will be a paramount necessity.
Mr. Hunt, not only by his years hut also by his consummate talent, worthily occupies the first -rank. He presents a marvellous instance of powers increased lather than impaired by advancing age. Never has he painted anything more subtly and elaborately true than his "Woad Pigeon," or his "Dead Chick." The downy softness of feathers and the delicate gradations of colour are beyond all praise. In a "Study ofa Mulatto Head," Mr. Hunt shows that in flesh- painting he still bears the palm. This is-not merely a cold study ; the blood seems to circulate under the dark skin, and the face has hrtention and expression. The force of imitation can no further go than in "Grapes" -and "Pine-apple," but is it not matter for regret that Mr. Hunt should devote so much of his great powers on inani- mate nature, when he has the faculty of rendering living character and expression? Mr. Burton, always refined and thoughtful, sends only one picture, "Old Donside," a half-tigure of a Puritan, Bible in hand, with averted eye, reflecting on some passage just read. This head is realized to the highest pitch, each wrinkle in the skin is given without any sacrifice of breadth, while the firm drawing, -cunning modelling, and truthful earnest expression cause it to rank as a work of very high order.' Mr. Gilbert's
beat drawing is the "Return of the Expedition," group of mounted warriors clad in armour of the time of Henry VIII. It is very seldom that want of effect can be laid to this artist's c but here the lights are spotty and scattered, thus rendering the drawing deficient in unity. That chivalric feeling in which Mr. Gil- bert excels has never been seen to better advantage—the figure in the black and gold suit is thoroughly knightly. "The Arrest of Hastings at the Council in -the Tower,' is quaint and -picturesque in colour; the artful, sneering Richard, gliding out at the back, is well conceived. In "A Roman Bagpiper," iiir.-Gilbe,rt gives dirt in. place of tone. The umbery unwashed flesh, and the mottled indigo sky, are eminently unnatural. "A Rehearsal," by Mr. Carl Haag, is one of the completest figure subjects in the collection. A party of Egyptian musicians are practising different instruments. Every part is ably drawn—the draperies arranged with taste and painted with great skill, the colour rich in tone, audthou.gh all is broad in touch so essential details is omitted. The force and -solidity of this ex- ample, attained by the simplest means, should read a lessonto those water colourists who strive for the same results by means of over- loaded and treacherous body colour. "The Acropolis of Athens," lit by the setting sun, while the pale moon rises in the distance, is, though well and accurately drawn, heavy in toue, and rather opera- tic than natural. Much -better is -"The Ancient Vestibule to the Southern Entrance beneath the Temple Area, Jerusalem." The massive pillars, worn and battered, the steps leading into darkest gloom, and the richly coloured figures in attitudes of prayer or medi- tation,.convey a feeling of deep solemnity. But Mr. Haag is too precise and Clear in his drawing. In the ,groined roof the divisions of the stone are made out with too equal hardness. Mr. Sniallfield is a large and versatile contributor. Figures, architecture, and mossy banks engage him by turns. His largest work, entitled "The First from Him, portrays a pretty young lady in a night-dress seated hy an open window, devouring her first love4etter by the light of the moon. Face, figure, and drapery are all well and honestly studied, and the effect of moonlight las been happily caught, but equal care has not been bestowed on the sky or background. Several carefully wrought studies of female heads, dispersed over the gallery, testify to Mr. Smallfield's industry, and his preference of Ita- lian to English titles. A little study of " Sun-dew " is note- worthy for its extreme delicacy of workmanship and imitative sldll. Mr. F. Tayler is facile and dashing as ever. He is a thorough master of animal form, and draws with vivacity and spirit. The human portion of his works are less satisfactory. "A game- keeper's Cottage" exemplifies his excellencies and defects. Are not the horse's legs too short, and is not.the face of the girl somewhat inane ? The two setters are excellent. Miss Wiles is earnest and devotional in "Beyond," and the draperies are well composed. Mr. A. D. Fripp is very unequal. In "young England" a i boy holding large float 13 standing on some rocks—the background being forma -Of white cliffs. This s an admirable drawing. Very pretty and arch is the face of the lad, and the qualities of reflected light in the open air have never been better expressed. "Jenny Jones," by the same artist, is not so good. One is surprised that a painter of Mx. Frieps. general xegard for truth should fall into tlaemeretricious error ot painting the month math smaller than the eyes. Mr. TopLarn's feel;; tug for Irish beauty is well represented in "rhe Ari„,,nal's Whisper.'" Mi. Jenkins is courtly and graceful in "Tout Beau" and "Watteau: Mr. W. Goodall is too often mannered and affected in style and un- ambitious in sib,lect. lEs -best drawing is "-Le 'Chapelet,' a
ton mothermother pausing in her spinning to watch her two children play- ing with a rosary. But Mr. Goodall does not do himself justice. Mr. Bead's drawings of church interiors are careful and true in the main, but he is not apparently so deeply versed in architec- tural construction as many of those painters who make this class of subject their study. The "Interior of the Dom Munster, West- phalia," with its sculptured screen dividing -the nave from the chan- cal, and the barred sunlight streaming; on its richly carved surface, would, with a little more sharpness and precision of touch, be a very able drawing.
Mr. E. Duncan is very strong -this year. " Shiplake on the Thames" is perhaps, the best of his five drawings. A group of cattle stand on the bank at a bend of the river—a shower has cleared off, and the rainbow and its reflection (wonderfully painted) appear on the left. A streak of sunlight lights up the centre of the picture and contrasts with the moist hazy distance. I specially cite this, but all Mr. Duncan's work will repay study, for its genuine honesty and modest, yet masterlike, treatment. To the young painter his pictures convey a wholesome lesson. By the judicious selection and arrangement of their material, theyprovethat something beyond the mere fact of sit- ting down, and endeavouring to give a literal transcript of a scene is needed before the title of artist can be earned, or a picture can be made. Mr. Birket Foster makes marked progress. His execution is perhaps too minute in parts, and degenerates occasionally into mechanical dotting. Like Mr. Gilbert, his long training as a wood draughtsman peeps out here and there in his way of hatchin certain parts of his work. But there is such freshness and geniality, such true appreciation of rural life and natural scenery, that we can more easily pardon such short-comings. Homelyand English, all the scenes are so thoroughly realized that the task of selection becomes difficult. Still, I must call special notice to " Wark's Burn, Northumberland." The "burn" runs through the centre of the picture, between a green sloping hill covered with felled timber, and a precipitous rocky bank, on which is a cluster of dark trees. A wood-crowned hill, partly in sunlight, partly in shadow, rises in the background. The felled timber is drawn with great knowledge, and the general effect is bril- liant and sparkling. In "'Gleaners,' Mr. Foster proves that he can and will delineate rustics as they are : these girls with their country faces, dusty boots, sum bonnets, and dresses of such colours as we may see every day, are in healthful opposition to those conventional representations of country life, which give London models attired in fabrics of a colour and texture unknown to the factories of Liver- pool or Manchester. The glimpse of corn-field is very charming. "Down Hill," a row of children holding hands while running down a declivity, is gay and happy, and "Burnham Beeches," very rich in its autumnal tints and glowing sun. Mr. A. P. Newton aims high, and though in some respects his work is scarcely up to the mark of former years, he shows evidence of great power. His faults are the faults of a young painter, such as with time he may easily overcome. In his eagerness to give some particular aspect or quality, he often loses sight of his composition as a whole, and by some hard, ungrace- ful line, or crude, ungainly colour, mars a beautiful work. A view of "Menton," though drawn with rigid conscientiousness is distract- ingly violent in colour. "Lake of Como" with more concentration and repose, is grandly solemn. The broad rippled surface of the lake is well expressed. "Light," as a mere study of sea and sky, has unity, truth, and quiet:" Winter Foliage,Menton," with much intricate study of tree ramification, is spoiled by a hardnes of outline. The masses of foliage are most ungainly in form, and look as if cut out of fiat pieces of wood, reminding one of the side-scenes at a theatre. Mr. J. P. Jackson steadily improves. He is daguerreotypic in correctness. "St. Ives Pier and Bay" is an admirably painted scene. The wet shingly beach, the pier with the high-water mark clearly defined on its surface, the evening sky with long banks of pinky cloud, and the tide coming up in gentle sweeps, are all given with truth and feeling. No city has been painted more frequently than Venice, and no city appears to present more varied aspects. Mr. Holland con- veys the impression that the buildings are intensely white, and the water -intensely blue. Mr. E. Goodall (whose architectural drawings are very .excellent) gives us dark buildings and bluish-green water. Mr. Callow, in his broad, clever drawing, goes a step further, and paints the sea in quiet shades of blue, green, and orange; but Mr. Iklaptel, less easily satisfied, does not rest till he has introduced every colour of the rainbow in more than prismatic brightness. Everybody k.no. ws Mr. Richardson's Italian views by heart, but he shows capa- bility of depicting a scene nearer,home with much fidelity in "Horse- shoe Bay, Bonchurch," though the sea is still wonderfully blue and smooth. Mr. Dodsson's views on and in the vicinity of the Thames are all praiseworthy for their simple and unaffected resemblance to nature. The skies in some of his drawings are particularly delightful. Dir. Rosenberg's clever Norwegian drawings, and the naïve render- ings of English and Welsh views by Mr. Davidson, should not be passed over. Mr. Gastineau is an able supporter of the ofd school. The sweep 'of waves in " Carlingford Castle" is drawn with much Lrirer. Mr. Branwhite's winter scenes, with the grey paper doing duty for sky; Mr. Harding's forcible but somewhat conventional landscapes; and the picturesque old streets and towns of Mr. Bur- pss, jun., deserve honourable mention. A series of thirty drawings from. the "Pilgrim's Progress," by Mr. J. Nash, contains some good specimens of human and some weak specimens.of angelic character ; and the landscapes of Mr. Palmer will attract by their deep poetic feeling though they may startle at first by their brilliant orange colour.
DRY POINT.
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