FINE ARTS.
EMBELLISHED PERIODICALS.
THE Second Part of BROCXEDON'S Dalian Road Book, comprising the route from Paris to Turin, is embellished with several views by the author,—faithful, no doubt, and wildly picturesque, as most chosen views of that country would be, but wanting that charm of effect which TURNER and STANFIELD have taught us to expect in landscape. They are nevertheless pleasing, particularly that of Chamberry. The distance in STANFIELD'S View of Lyons, with its tasteful foreground, is not ren- dered with due fidelity in the engraving,---otherwise the plates are well and clearly executed, in Messrs. Fnanzar's best style. A Map of the route illustrates the text.
Part XIX. of the Landscape Illustrations of the Waverley Novels brings this beautiful set of plates nearly to a close. The Twentieth will be the concluding number. Its place will be supplied by a successor and com- panion ; a series of Landscape Illustrations of Lord 'Byron's works, to correspond with the present work. The views in this number are—Liver- pool in 1664; by Ausalar ; a masterly drawing of a scene picturesque in itself, and rendered more interesting by the contrast it affords with the present aspect of Liverpool. Woodstock from Blenheim Park, by W. WESTAL ; a garden-like scene, the town embedded in trees, the poplars rising like natural minarets with their verdant spires. Dumfries Church aad Town, by Cansuor.sie, with Burns's; monument. St. Cuthbert's, its rock and 'castle ; a striking scene,Po rtrayed with .fine effect by ROBERTS. All the plates are well engraved. Part XXXI'. of the 'National Portrait Gallery contains the portraits of Lord Eldon, after 14 AW RENCE,—an excellent,and faithful engraving of, the original picture of the great legal sage ; Sir Alexander Johnston, after PHILIPS, a finished engraving, in the chalk style, by COCHRAN ; and Thomas Moore, a physical resemblance, but the expression is not characteristic either of the poet or the man.
The commencement of a new volume of " The English School of Painting and Sculpture" proves the success of this cheap and interest- ing little work. Number XXIV. completes the second, and XXV. corn. menses the third volume ; and they contain outline sketches of the fol- lowing popular works of art, amongst others :—one of FUSELI'S morbid exaggerations,— a • Ugolino, with a visage like that of a lion on a knocker ; BARRY'S cluster of portraits of eminent men "each in hii habit as lie lived," with angelic accompaniments, which he calls Ely- sium; a Siren, by 1111..ros:, entitled the Mermaid of Galloway ; Noarncors's Entry of Richard the Second and Bolingbroke, the best of his historical designs ; WrrneamoroN's Dancing Bear,- a very real- looking picture ; Wo.am's Village Festival, very imperfectly rendered ; and, amongst the Sculpture, one of Fives clever bas-reliefs, a classical composition a-la-Flaxman. The Illustrations of Volume XXX. of the Waverley Novels, containing the Second of Peveril, are among the best of these embellishments, and are every way worthy of the author and the artists. The one by Lesma represents Fenella and Peveril ; the other, by Wir.ais, Peveril in the Prison, with Sir Geoffrey Hudson, the King'sdwarf. The engraving of this plate by Avails:11;s Fox is especially admirable. Messrs. Comical,: and BENTLEY are, we think, acting unwisely in committing the task of embellishing their series of Standard Novels to artists of inferior talent. To illustrate Frankenstein, for instance, requires a painter of first-rate and peculiar powers. FUSE LI alone could have done justice to the horrors of the Monster of Mrs. Sin:LTA:les fan- tasy: it is beyond the power of Mr.H 0 LST though lie has not however failed so greatly as might be supposed : the design is well-conceived, but imper- fectly developed. A ludicrous contrast to the terror of Frankenstein is furnished in the embellishments to Volume V. of the Novelist's Library, by CRUIXSIIANK'S representation of the terrified Sentinel in Tom Jones, who, shivering and grinning in an agony of fear, discharges his piece at the unconscious object of his alarm. The visage and expression of the soldier are a little too like Punchinello. The scene where Square is dis- covered in Moll Seagrim's garret is as good as though it had never been delineated before. The battle-royal in the church-yard, with the Ama- zonian Fury wielding a thigh-bone, and Squire Weston in a rage endea- vouring to get at Tom Jones, are both conceived in the spirit of
PIET:DIN G. •
Of the Magazines, the New Monthly gives us a good portrait of the Poet Rogers in his prime, after Hoeranut ; Fraser, a sketch in crayon of Geoffrey Crayon ; clever, and like, but rough: the expression of Wash- ington Irving's physiognomy is not easily hit off. The Diamond, besides an engraving as usual, gives a wood-cut of a hatehment of " The Bill" at the head of some ingenious epitaphs on the deceased. The motto is " Resurgam."
Previous page
