fin lib.
SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS.
Tars society is not progressive. The present exhibition appears scarcely so good as that of last year. Few of the members improve ; many remain stationary ; others degenerate. The absence of some this year is a matter of congratulation; the presence of others is to he deplored. The works of many of the elder members would be ridiculous, were they not pitiable. In other .professions men have the good taste to retire from the public view, when the powers which enabled them to attain position give sign of failure. It is different with the painter—he exhibits his productions up to the very year of his death ; and all exhibition goers must have re- marked, with feelings of pain, the later efforts of men once celebrated, but in whom the old fire has long since been irrevocably quenched. Two members show considerable advance over their previous works—Mr. Hurlstone, the President of the Society, and Mr. Vicat Cole, who bids fair to take a very high stand in landscape painting.
Taking the pictures in the order in which they appear in the catalogue, the first which claims notice is " The Lesson" (8), by Mr. Cobbett. This is one of the best, because most genuine, picture he has produced. A single figure of a child, in a blue dress, relieved against a faded greenish damask background, though cold in key of colour, is far preferable to those artificial rustic girls of which he and Mr. Henzill contribute so many to this gallery. Mr. Hemsley shows some effort at natural expression in 24, "The Emigrant's Letter." His draperies are less violent in colour, and better studied than usual. The old postman,. who reads the letter to the family, is characteristic. The painting is still coarse and common in parts, particularly in the background. Mr. J. Hardy's, jun., " Blowing ubbles (35) is a quietly painted interior ; but the accessories are all more carefully finished than the faces. Mr. Baxter becomes more vapid every year. His women are not flesh and blood, and their com- plexions suggest the use of cosmetics, rather than the ruddy hue of
health. He sends three pictures (52, 207, 462), all pretty faces, and all equally inane. 60, " Let him bare the palm that de- serves it," is a country schoolmaster administering punishment to a loutish boy, by Mr. W. Bromley. Pictures with punning titles are not usually interesting or praiseworthy. The present forms no exception to the rule. Mr. Collinson does not ad- vance in " So Hot" (72). " Solace for an Invalid" (460) is better, and has a certain coarse humour. It consists of a single figure of a servant-girl, bringing in a roast fowl to some victim of dyspepsia, who, having tried all the "opathies" without success, has determined on a more pleasant method of treating his complaint. There is largeness of style about the works of Mr. Hurlstone which always make them conspicuous; but this year they are additionally so, by being free from much of that slimy, treacly look, which is generally the besetting fault of his pictures. They possess many passages of good colour : 78, " A View of a Window at Granada," is simple in material and bold in treatment ; 176, "Josephs," a Spanish gipsy, is broad and effective, and though somewhat florid in tone, shows skilful arrangement of colour. "A Peahen and other Birds" (86) is a very well drawn study, by Mr. Duffield. Mr. Vicat Cole's "Surrey Corn-field" is a great advance on anything yet ex- hibited by him. The subject is well chosen, offering variety of line in the undulating corn-lands, and well-disposed groups of foliage. The foreground, golden with its sheaves, tells brightly against nch masses of elm and oak, the colour of which, in deep shade, has been rendered with great verisimilitude. The sky looks rather weak, but, with this exception, all is painted with great force and intensity. 744, " A Shadowy Unfrequented Wood," by the same painter, is an unaffected and vigorous study, in water colours, possessing a strength which is almost surprising considering the means employed. Mr. Emmdrson was a painter of much promise some four or five years ago, but, in his " Sanitary Commissioner," he proves that it is easier to make than sustain a reputation. He has much perception of character, though, in the present case, it tends to vulgarity. The ex- ecution is dull and heavy, and although the scene takes place in the open air, it presents an almost total absence of light. 223, 224, "Home for the Holidays," and "There's Somebody Coming," two little domestic incidents, by Mr. Erwood, deserve recognition. They are evidently the work of a beginner, but evince a praiseworthy endeavour to represent natural objects as they really appear. The effect of light in the distant passage in the latter is very accurately painted. 270, "A Brown Study," is a transcript of one of those dirty but picturesque painting-rooms, filled with artistic properties and knick- knacks which Mr. Wingfield has so often exhibited. It is difficult to imagine what interest such interiors can have for the general public, but that they possess some is evident, or Mr. Wingfield would not continue to portray them. Though badly hung, Mr. Calderon's "La Chiffonnidre" (302) is sure not to be passed over. It is merely a forcibly painted study of a lady in a black dress, but its innate re- finement renders it conspicuous amongst the mass of common work surrounding it. The tone of colour is very pleasing, with the single exception of some harsh yellow on the chair-back. Mr. G. A. Storey is another painter who has much feeling for refined beauty. His " Griselda at the Well" (314) is sweet in expression, large and simple in style. Indeed, simplicity is a quality he carries somewhat to excess. In what species of drapery would Mr. Storey see so little detail as is here shown ? One of the most original works in the rooms is "Fast-day at the Convent," by Mr. G. D. Leslie. It is placed rather high, but explains itself easily. In the doorway of a wall which overhangs the convent moat, a pretty young nun is seated angling. Through the door may be caught a glimpse of the garden. Overhead hang the broad leaves of the chestnut. A feeling of quiet happiness and poetry so pervades this little picture, that I feel reluc- tant to find fault with it; but it is necessary to warn Mr. Leslie against the wilful carelessness he so frequently displays. His back- ground is excellent, having received all his attention; but the nun's figure is very unstudied, and the drapery so badly disposed, especially on the arm, as to suggest the idea of its having been painted without reference to nature. Let Mr. Leslie only be tree to himself, and a bright future is surely in store for him. Mr. Yeames gives signs of progress in a carefully painted subject, " Sophy and Lionel (366). Some very conscientious work is contained in Mr. Downard's picture without a title (387.) A mother is praying while her child is asleep on a bed. Out of the many works purporting to represent scenes of humble life, this is almost the only one in the gallery which does so veritably. All who look at it, will appreciate its fidelity at a glance. The remaining works must be reserved for a second notice.
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