FINE ARTS.

THE PORTRAITS IN THE ACADEMY EXHIBITION.

OCR purpose of entering into a minute examination of the Academy Exhibition has been hitherto diverted by other claims on the attention of the passing moment ; and in recurring to the subject after a short interval, when the gloss of novelty is gone off, there remains but little to repay a close scrutiny. Indeed, it were better for the reputation of the painters to be content with our first hasty anti superficial glance : the beauties that we then overlooked are of more account regarded as omissions, than if enumerated.

There is one point of view, however, in which another notice of the pictures may be not altogether uninteresting : and indeed it is in this light the Exhibition will have been regarded by the mass of visiters,— namely, as a display of " specimens of portrait-painting." The Aca- demy exhibition is, in fact, tile public show-shop, where the R. A.s and the unlettered mob of limners canvass for customers. Portraiture is "the be all and the end all " of the present race of painters and patrons : pictures are tnade for sale, or, as doctors write books, to serve as advertisements. Ail artist who is not merely a portrait. painter, receives more consideration, gets better prices, and finds patrons of a higher grade ; and a course of subject-pictures is a recommenda- tory step to Academy honours. With all but a few, a very few honour- able exceptions, which readers of the Spectator will not need specify- ing, art is a trade—a means of livelihood. "Arid a very creditable one it is," says some one. Granted : but then the less said about " genius " and " fame " the better.

No stronger proof can be required that money is the aurisacra fames of the great mass of artists, than the slight way in which the majority of pictures are painted. Dexterity and facility of execution, a neat or a dashing manner, are the end and aim of study and practice. Rapi- dity of production is the winning quality in the race of competition ; and the triumph of art is to dash in a dog on a blank canvass in time to dress for dinner, or to create a conflagration out of chaos in an exhibi- tion-room on " varnishing day." EVCII WILKIE, once the most patient of labour, and who never added a touch that did not heighten the reality of his conception, has become ghostly unsubstantial, and taken to portraiture. We shall expect to see A1ULREADY following his ex- ample next.

But to the face-painters. Of BRIGGS, the first of the day, we have before spoken : the only drawback to his pictures is that they are so

slightly painted. His whole-lengths of the Chancellor and Mr. Al- sager appear to be solid and well, finished, and the flesh looks like flesh ; but the busts and arms of the two ladies, (265 and 524,) are vapoury : you see not the imitation of flesh, but a painted representation of a woman, the face alive with individual character and expression, and the form admirably indicated—but only indicated. This was not the way

with TITIAN nor with VANDYKE ; and the difference between the fashionable limners and those immortalizers of human nature is, that the

old painters gave the mental and moral character of the individual—the modern merely show his features and how he looked : many, by the

way, do not attain to this humble amount of truth. The best piece of flesh painting, indeed the only good imitation of the texture and corn plexion of the skin, is in the portrait of the Reverend W. Field author of Parr's Life, (55%) by H. WvATT, a young painter of sterlin merit. Here you have a perfect representation of' the man: yr/ make the acquaintance not only of his physical but of his intellectual character ; and an excellent specimen of the country parson he is : even the hand—ill.drawn though it be—has character. This is true portraiture. As an example of the " courtly style." we cannot do better than refer to the performances of the President, Sir 1%1Att• TIN SHEE ; who has bestowed an immortality of mutant bloom on the Sailor King and Sir Francis Burdett. This sort of flattery, bow. ever, is of the old school, and too gross and palpablebtioltpl:aanse air of

n smooth florid cheeks and a erect posture may Ire very acceptable to septuagenarians with wrinkled faces and bent backs,

tun" or " the look of a genius" are now the ire plus ultra of a fashion- able portrait-painter. For costume, CHALON is the Stulz and Mara. thin of pictorial coats and gowns. F. GRANT is great on horseback: his two equestrian portraits, (4:38 and .501.) bring the chivalry of Rot. ten Row to mind ; and in his clever whole-length picture of Mrs. Shakerley and Son, (MO the listless air of urn ennuyee—the fashion, able affectation of the " interesting " class of beauties, we be.

here—is hit off to a nicety. Apathetic indifference, another variety of the 4. morgue " of fashionable life, is the characteristic of all ED- WIN LANDSEER'S portraits ; and it is mest vividly expressed in this of Lady Fitzharris, (141)—a charming little picture, painted with in. imitable dexterity, and having the appearance of high finish, without any evidences of laborious handicraft. To return to Nature. The next best representation of flesh and blood is in the portrait of a gentleman, by J. P. KNIGHT, (439): the handling is too apparent ; the face wants that firmness and solidity of form that distinguish WYATT'S ; but you recognize the a.tempt to imitate the tone and substance of the life, WILDMAN, WhO painted an ugly-looking head last year with such extraordinary power, this year seems to have studied the complexion of cholera in his por- trait of C. II. Turner, Esq. (.248); and Emus, who was nearer the truth than any painter in his imitation both of tone arid texture of flesh, has become cold and stony in his portrait of the Archbishop of Armagh, (410). GEDDEs's portrait of Gibson the sculptor, (4880 is strongly characteristic ; but the colouring is brown, or what is termed " foxy"— the modern Roman tone. III his portrait of Mrs. Prendergast, (164,) he is clear to crudity : tile painting is thin and edgy, but there is a sprightly animation of look. Mrs. CARPENTER, too, IMS sacrificed substance to pure colouring ; and there is a cold light on tile ringlets of the Countess of Kintore, (213,) which increases the unsubstantial appearance of the painting : for chasteness of tone and the lady-like air, it is admirable. Mrs. RonEtersoses whole-lerigth of Mrs. Ilene. age, (5230 is a powerful painting, and a pleasing portrait, and by far the best she has produced ; but the " inakiug-up " of the picture—the furniture and dress—is too obtrusive ; and the tone of the flesh is better than the substance—it has tine surface of ivory. SAY paints flesh like wax, arid long necks and falling shoulders arc his pattern of beauty: his portrait of Sir Edward Dcring's eldest son, a line boy with a head curled to admiration, is enough to make his fortune. What fourth mamma would not like to see her darling look so handsome? He beats Mr. PARTRIDGE hollow. Would he have given a red nose to a little boy, as EMILY SCHMACK has done, in the portrait of "A Young Greek ?" (212)—one of the most characteristic pictures of boyhood in the Exhi- bition. EMILY SDIIMACK has also represented " A Young Lady Pre- paring for a Fancy Ball," (78,) with charming simplicity of style. In these two likenesses, the individuality of the persons strikes you: this is the true test of good portraiture. But it may be accompaniedw4ith7a commonplace and vulgar style, as III REINAGLE'S (219 alld 6,) where the dress and the waxen face, remind one of Madame TUSSAVD. There is a chubby little child in blue, (can it be 233, the grandchild, by G. ARNALD?) which has this waxen reality in perfection. In PICKERSGILL'S portraits, a conventional air and an absence of refinement, render his most laboured and forcible pictures unim- pressive. Mrs. Holland Ackers, (200 has an aspect of coarseness; and the Duke of Hamilton, (184,) looks as if be had not recovered from his astonishment at finding himself stuck up in the splendid Coro- nation dress. His other whole-length of Colonial Clitherow, (2600 is rich and sombre, in the manner of BRIGGs ; but it has a goi-up look, like an upholstery-picture, in which the person represented is little better than a lay. figure. The Duke of Hamilton is a capital example of the "fancy-dress full-length," its this is of the" ready-furnished full- length ;" one can fancy a warehouse full of such canvasses only waiting for heads to be put on "at the shortest notice." PICKERSGILL is the most eminent of the manufacturers of portraits, though Sir MARTIN SIIEE takes precedence ex officio. SIMPSON, G. HAvTER, LUCA% MORTON, MIDDLETON, SAY, PATTEN, FAULKNER, WATSON GORDON, REINAGLE, EVANS, PARTRIDGE, WOOD, and RAMSAY, belong to this class Pinwes is above it, and also HOLLTNS,—though his group of Ballooners, (5130 smells as strong of the shop as PARTRIDGE'S op- posite of a " Sketching Society," (408); the diffence being, that the sketchers are flattered into unlikeness, and the picture becomes vukar by art, while the ballooners are as like as they can stare, and the sub- jects therefore seem vulgar by nature.

In justice to the portrait-painters by profession, however, we must

point out " favourable specimens" of their respective styles : Prince George of Cambridge, (79,) Marchiouess of Clunricarde, (40,) and Earl Cowper. (344,) by LUCAS; Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, (22.50 by MORTON; Raja Ram Roy, (650 by EVANS ; Richard Owen, Esq., (69,) by MinniEroN; Lord Melbourne, 02200 by HAYTER ; Mrs. Fairlie, (2360 by WOOD; the Bishop of Rochester, (4780 by Facts- salt ; two portraits of ladies, (418 and 5410 by WATsos GroaDoN; and the Mayor of Carlisle, (368,) by Ramsay. LINNELL, though a face-painter by profession, despises the vulgar arts of pictorial flattery and dressing, and aims at giving the character of the person, not at pleasing the vanity of the sitter. His small portrait of Sir Robert Peel, (1750 however, is not one of hishappiest likenesses; and his life-size limning of Mr. Pendarves, (49I,) is a better bead than a picture. BOXALL'S portrait of Mr. Boddington, (3470 is 55 unaffected and characteristic-looking picture, and rich in colour ; It hai . not the set, formal air of "the throne." BALLANTYNE, a young BMA

of talent, has made a pretty picture au young lady sitting out of doors drawing on her glove, (5.57,) though the painting is slight ; and " Re- flection," (380 by T. MooroRn, is a pleasing study of girlhood, with an air of nature and an effect of light and shade that attract even at the height where it is placed.

We have now omitted several that we had marked; but we suspect more are already quoted than meet the eye of the visiter. Of the Miniature Room we can oely say, that the drawings by SALA. BERT, RICHMOND, F. CRUICKSHANK, Miss COREAUX, and Miss COLE, and the miniatures on ivory of Ross, DENNING, LOVER, A. ROBERTSON, THORBURN, F. ROGHARD, NEw CON, Miss GILLIES, and Miss MANLY, struck us on a cursory inspection : but our space is already exhausted, and we have no room to discriminate.