ART.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
[LAST NOTICE.]
IN our last notice we gave a general survey of the works in the first five rooms, and we now proceed to mention the remainder. In the sixth room, first, No. 460, "Lowering Marble from the Quarry, Carrara," by C. H. Poingdestre, a bright, effective picture, remarkable for its thoroughly good drawing of the great blocks of white marble which are being lowered by the workmen in the foreground, whose gay dresses stand out in bold relief fr* the rocky background. From this blue Italian sky we turn with a certain feeling of relief to the cool greys of an English summer's evening, in the quiet, unpretending sketch entitled" Water-lilies," by J. Aumonier. This is a pleasant picture, and deserves remark, from the facility and truth of its handling, and as showing how much can be made of a simple English meadow and pool of water by an artist who can feel their beauty. Hung very high, No. 468, "A Devonshire Fishing Village," by II. Goodwin, will probably pass comparatively unnoticed ; but as far as can be seen, it catches very happily the character of those rocky shores and grey-stone cottages, overhung with great slopes of down. No. 171, "The Crofter's Team," by J. Farquharson, might have been anywhere else than where it is, for any pleasure it is likely to give. Indeed, there are too many of these large examples of the Scotch school on the line, and this is decidedly one of the least interesting. The next picture, No. 472, "Going North," by G. Earl, is Mr. Frith's "Railway Station," without the variety of incident and clever delineation of character which made that picture such a favourite. Indeed, why this subject was painted, unless it were for the sake of the dogs, it would be bard to guess.
No. 482, "A Hewer of Wood and Drawer of Water." This dark Arab, with his drooping moustache and proud face, is hardly our usual idea of a water-carrier ; he looks more like some exiled prince, whom Mr. Elmore has prevailed on to sit for his portrait. No. 484, "Ploughing in Lower Egypt," by R. Beavis, is a thoroughly truthful and effective rendering of an Eastern scene, singularly free from the dramatic manner which many of our best artists assume when they have to paint Oriental life. In this re- spect Mr. I3eavis is deserving of higher praise than Goodall, whose painting of "Sheep-washing near the Pyramids," in the next room, is unreal and theatrical to the highest degree. There is a clever little composition in this room called a "Collision in the North Sea," No. 487, by H. Bource, some children sailing their boats in a pool left by the retiring tide. Treated somewhat in the French style, with hardly any positive colour, it is most harmonious in tone, and the stillness of evening contrasts very pleasantly with the eager excitement of the children, as one of their little boats threatens to upset the other. No. 492, by F. Morgan, is one of those semi-sentimental productions with which the Academy has been of late years flooded. They are all very much the same, the key to the picture being either a woman with a baby or a woman without a baby,—the woman with the baby wishing to get rid of it, the woman without a baby representing loneliness and de- sertion. In this case the woman has two babies in a cart, and is apparently at a loss what to do with them. From this we range with great pleasure to No. 498, "Hard Lines," by J. C. Hook, R.A.,—one of Mr. Hook's most pleasant fisher-girls, winding a skein of worsted, which her little brother holds, while he turns wistful eyes to the shore, on which the blue waves are dancing merrily. The great beauty of these pictures of Mr. Hook's seems to us that, whatever may be their faults, they have always in them the sun and the breeze. They might be illustrations to one of Charles Kingsley's novels, so full are they of fresh manliness and honest delight in the beauty of nature. Nearly above this there is a portrait by G. Molinari of Cardinal Manning, which, whatever may be its defects as a picture—and it is so high up that they are not discernible—is a most speaking likeness, and a fine piece of colour.
In the seventh room the first important work which we have not previously noticed is No. 538, "Christian descending the Hill of Difficulty," by R. Thorburn, A. Whatever Mr. Thor- burn's merits may have been in former years, there are few of them to be discerned here. Discretion, Piety, Charity, and Prudence, all of whom are depicted accompanying the pilgrim, are all so like one another, that it is difficult to distinguish them, and neither the colour nor drawing of the figures is remarkable, ex- cept for its tameness and conventionality. No. 548, "The Penitent," by Hill,—a rather conventional subject, very skilfully rendered. The penitent stands nervously looking in at the window of her old cottage-home, a rough shawl held closely round her, and in the light of a dim, grey evening. It may be doubted whether such pictures should be painted at all, but this is, at any rate, gravely and very pathetically treated. The emotion in the girl's face is very intense. No. 551, "Choosing a Nosegay," by C. E. Perugini,—a pleasant, homely figure, in a cotton gown and white sun-bonnet, gathering flowers in a quaint, old-fashioned garden. All Mr. Perugini's pictures this year are pleasing, but this is the most so of the three. Next to this is No. 577, "Songs without Words," by J. M. Strudwick, an orchard heavily laden with fruit, and a rather pre-Raphaelite maiden lying at the foot of one of the trees. Though little more than a piece of decorative drawing,
there is a pleasant feeling for colour in the crimson robes and I dark fruit and foliage. No. 586, " Sharpening a Skate, Friesland,' by C. Bisschop, is a good, solid painting of an excessively unin- teresting subject; and No. 618, "Little Fishermen," by T. Green, is a little work of some promise.
In the Water-colour gallery there are very few drawings that are worthy of notice. It is a well-known fact, the jealousy with which this branch of Art is looked upon by the Academic ranks, and hardly any of the better class (A water-colour artists will in consequence exhibit at Burlington House. To so great an extent was this jealousy carried, that it is within our personal know- ledge that when, some years ago, a leading member of the Institute of Water-colours sent one of his best drawings to the Academy, it was rejected without mercy. Perhaps it is best that the Academy should be confined chiefly to woik in oils, but if so, it would seem well that water-colours were totally excluded, and not represented in such an extremely inadequate manner as they are at present. The best drawing in this eighth gallery is undoubtedly No. 632, "Military Sports,—the Tug of War," by E. Buckman, two groups of soldiers and sailors, tug- ging against one another at each end of a long rope. Though professedly only decorative in treatment, this composition is in- stinct with vigorous life, and the determination of the faces, and the difference between the military and naval manner of pulling, are wonderfully expressed. The sailors are getting slightly the best of it, evidently working on system ; but the tough old Highlanders will take a lot of beating, and the tug of war is a very equal one. There are several of Mr. Clifford's portraits here, but none deserving any special notice, the least important part of each being the face of the sitter. There are also two flower-pieces by Mrs. Angell, which have her usual fidelity to nature. No. 674, "Beer Head," by J. 0. Long, is a good seascape, representing one of the pleasantest " bits " on the Devonshire coast, and very faithful to nature. No. 681, "Off Spurn Point," by G. Sheffield,—a fine piece of rough sea, some- what wanting in transparency, but finely coneeived and firmly drawn. No. 704, by W. Duncan, "Prince Henry trying on the Crown," is clever and nice in colour, though the subject is nearly worn to death. Nos. 733,745, and 817 are all small, noteworthy land- scapes. No. 778," The Cartel," by H. Caffieri—two gentlemen in the dress of the last century, one lolling in a chair, while the other peruses the challenge, which is presumably just going to be sent —is a humorous and somewhat clever composition. No. 825, "The Battle of Vittoria," by 0. Naril, shows the last stand of the French before our troops, and is not quite so common-place as most delineations of battles ; water-colours, though, are hardly suited for such subjects. No. 845, "Study on the Thames," by H. Wilkinson, is the last drawing we shall mention ; it is an unpretending study, in very low tones of colour, truthful and unaffected.
In the Lecture-room, No. 866 is a portrait by Miss L Starr of Mrs. Henry S. King, not one of this clever lady's most successful works, and though possibly a good likeness, on the whole, an un- pleasant picture. Underneath it is a very painful picture, entitled, "In Memoriam," by J. Faed (not the Academician), of which we can only say that we do not know which to blame most, the bad taste of the subject or the vulgarity of the painting. If it be possible to vulgarise the near approach of death, this conjunction of shining upholstery, velvet dresses, &c., will certainly be the way to do it. No. 876, "A Lonely Christmas," by J. K. Thom- son, is one of the most pathetic pictures in the exhibition. It represents an old widow sitting alone in the little room, with a bricked floor, that serves her for kitchen and sitting-room in one. There is snow upon the ground outside, and some of the village children look in with childish curiosity at the lonely figure bending over the fire. Above the mantelpiece is the old gun her husband used long years ago, on the table her scanty dinner. The quiet thoroughness of the painting and the tenderness of feeling throughout can hardly be too highly praised. No. 886 is another of Mr. Pettie's portraits in costume, one of which we have already mentioned ; and the same remark which we made as to the uneasiness of Master Graham Fettle's appearance, when arrayed in mediseval dress, will apply also to the ferocious discom- fort of this gentleman. No. 892, "The Old Soldier," by W. Q. Orchardson, the best of this artist's contributions to this exhibi- tion, represents a soldier in the dress of the last century, searching his pockets in vain, for the coin that is to pay for the tankard of ale which he has just consumed, and which stands empty before him. The barmaid waits patiently, her face betraying some amusement but small hopes of the success of the search. No. 915, "Elijah confronting Ahab and Jezebel in Naboth's Vineyard," by
F. Dicksee. This picture is probably familiar to most of our readers, as it was engraved (why, it is difficult to say), in one of our illustrated contemporaries. The figure of Ahab is not without some grandeur of expression, but Jezebel and the prophet are both devoid of life, and the whole composition sadly scattered and un- satisfactory. We are tempted to speak the more leniently of this picture, as it becomes almost great, by comparison with one in the tenth room on the same subject. This is No. 1,254, by T. M. Rooke, and absolutely defies description or criticism ; like the dwarf in the show, it must be seen to be appreciated. No. 928, " Pa-ha-uza-tan-ka, the Great Scalper," by V. W. Bromley, is one of Mr. Bromley's most fantastic works ; an Indian chief (with little on but a most extraordinary head-dress and cloak of eagle's feathers) holding up the scalp of his last victim in triumph, whose body lies dead at Pa-ha-uza-tan-ka's feet,—" clever, but useless," as Mr. Ruskin would say.
No. 936, "His Highness in Disgrace," by L. J. Pott,—a very good specimen of the furniture-style of picture, the only un- interesting and poorly-executed part of the picture being the faces of the human beings concerned in it. The silk stockings of his Highness are really triumphs of imitative art. No. 942, "Looking out for a Safe Investment," by E. Nicol, A.,—two Scotch children looking in at the window of a cottage shop, where all manner of tempting goods—value one halfpenny and upwards —are displayed to their longing gaze ; humorous, as are most of Mr. Nicol's pictures, but hardly showing the power of some of his former works. No. 952, "The Musician," by C. E. Perugini, —one of the most beautiful and delicate pieces of painting in the exhibition,—the heavy, old-fashioned dress, embroidered with silk flowers, being no less admirable than the sweet, girlish face which looks out of the picture so winningly. This is the very best of the women's portraits of the year, as the one by Watts, of the Bishop of Ely, is the best of the men's.
Amongst the etchings, some of the most noticeable are two by Tissot, from his own pictures, one of which, that of "The Thames," is preferable to the picture ; a fine etching by Rajon, called, "The Armourer," after A. Fabri ; an etching from nature by A. Evershead, "On the Thames," very free and powerful ; No. 1,179, "Heads of Angels," etched by Richeton, after Sir Joshua. And amongst the drawings in pen-and-ink there are three wonderfully spirited ones by Du Moonier, the best of which is undoubtedly 1,146, "Souvenir de Dieppe,"—a group of fashion- able idlers on the pier, listening to a band in the twilight. Here, also, are Henry Holiday's illustrations to "The Hunting of the Snark," most delicate in execution and quaint in conception.
In the last room there is but little to detain us that has not been previously mentioned. No. 1,267, " Streatley Mill," C. N. Henry, is a breezy, pleasing picture of one of the prettiest spots upon the river, and one well known to every old Oxonian. No. 1,275, "C. Macnamara," by G. F. Watts, a fine portrait, but not to be compared to that of the Rev. Harold Browne, previously alluded to. No. 1,282, "Cleopatra," by Alma Tadema, one of the most unpleasing works of this artist, and showing little of the beauty for which Antony "lost a world." No. 1,297, a girl spinning, and her cow ; an uninteresting subject, well painted, particularly the cow. No. 1,318, "Runnymede, near Windsor, A.D. 1215," one of the worst pictures in the Academy. No. 1334, "The Lord Lawrence," by Val Prinsep,—the best por- trait by Mr. Prinsep that we have ever seen, and a most dignified likeness of one of our greatest men.
Here we must close our notices of the Royal Academy for 1876, —an exhibition which, while it exhibits much good work, must yet be a disappointing one to every true lover of Art, from the ex- cessive preponderance in it of the common-place, and the lack, save in some exceptional instances, of sustained effort at any real advance towards a higher ideal.
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