FINE ARTS.
ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBTTION.
A grams at the most noticeable of the fourteen hundred and seventy works of art that fill the rooms of the Royal Academy will best convey to the reader an idea of the general character and chief attractions of this year's exhibition.
The Great Room being the goal which visiters are eager to reach first—. though it does not contain the best pictures—we suffer ourselves to be car- ried along by the rush on the opening-day, and join the crowd gathered round a small picture that fills the place of honour in the centre of the East end. It is by Edwin Landseer, and the only one he exhibits. A Norman shepherd in his blouse kneels with outstretched arms and upcast eyes before an old'stone crucifix by the wayside; his flock scattered around, dotting the green turf for some distance; a few new-dropped lambs lying on their sides in the foreground. The dark brown fleeces of the black rams harmonize with the blue of the shepherd's blouse, and a fresh gar- land of roses at the foot of the cross gives life to the picture and accords with the green of the turf. The incident was sketched from nature by the painter • and he has preserved the simple earnestness that renders it touching. It is exquisitely finished ; and was bought off the easel by Sir Robert Peel. On the left hangs an elegant in- terior of a modern drawingroom, with a lady receiving a morning visiter and a page entering with a letter; beautifully painted by Leslie, and called The Heiress. The pendant to it—a lighted saloon, of the time of Louis the Fourteenth, with a poet reading his verses to a knot offemmes savantes—is a contrast both in subject and style, scarcely worthy to be called A Scene from Molihre. Following the line of the eye, right and left, two of Turner's bright visions of Venice arrest the sight and hold it spell- bound with their magical effects of light and colour: the watery floor and arial sky meet at the horizon in a gorgeous mass of orange and golden tints, reflected in one picture by the rising and in the other by the setting sun on the marble palaces of Venice, dimly seen in the distance; the in- tervening space being filled with the glowing atmosphere. In the corners nestle Etty's voluptuous nuclides, set off with rainbow hues; contrasted with Collins's sober coast-scenes, and the hard mechanical ruralities of Witherington. Passing unnoticed the imbecilities of the superannuated Academicians, Messrs. Ward, Howard, and Reinagle, with a protest against their occupying such conspicuous places, we turn to the South side. Ei the centre hangs Eastlake's design for one of the lunettes in the summer-house at Buckingham Palace; in which the spirit of the concluding lill138 of Milton's Comas is delicately embodied with pure and tender sentiment. An angel descending meets the upturned face of the Lady, and whispers heavenly comfort; her innocence being guarded on either side by a row of "the young-eyed cherubim." The only other remarkable pictures og the line are a sparkling autumn wood-scene with a brook—The Water-Cart, by Lee; and two of Stanfield's solid; clear, and finished marine pieces— Dutch Boats Running into Saardam and the Capture of a Spanish Xebecgue by a Sloop commanded by Lord Co;Arane. On the North side, Stanfield's largest and best picture—The Mole at Ancona, with Trojan's Arch— worthily occupies the centre; and on each side of it—striking contrasts to its calm, silvery brightness and model-like definition—are two of Turner's tumultuous surges: Whalers—all light, spray, and clouds; beautiful as harmonies of colour; depicting the peril and excitement of Whale- fishing, in a vague, imaginative manner. At one end is Roberts's great picture—Ruins of Karnak; the stupendous masses of the temple and the Libyan hills in the distance lit up by the lurid rays of the setting sunset. At the other end is one of Uwins's sunny groups of Neapolitan peasants on a festa-day. Above the line of sight, portraits of all sorts of people, in every kind of costume, and of various degrees of merit, look from the walls; the most conspicuous being the three central life-size whole lengths. One is -Mrs. Thwaytes, her diamonds and her dravringroom, by Alfred Chalon: the lady's face being the least conspicuous feature in the display of mirrors, gilding, and carpet: another is Lord Londonderry and his horse —the animal most conspicuous—by F. Grant: and the third is Mr. Pigeon, Treasurer of Christ's Hospital, by J. P. Knight—remarkable as the best whole-length portrait in the Exhibition; though there is one opposite, of Dr. Brunton, by Watson Gordon, scarcely inferior. Passing the door of that dark hole the Octagon Room, without looking in at the purgatorial cell to see what poor painters are burked there, we enter the Middle Room, where the two best half-length portraits hang: one of them, Mr. Lopez, by Linnell, rivets the gazer by its thoughtful, lifelike look on first entering; the other, Mr. De gunmen the "Opium-Eater," by Watson Gordon, though less attractive at first, holds attention longer. This room contains the most truthful, original, and amusing picture in the whole collection—A Dame's School, by Webster, an inimitable painter of urchin character and the little world of the school-room. The row of dis- mal faces ranged before the angry " dame," eyeing apprehensively the cane ready at hand, screens from her view the fun and mischief going on in corners: here a waggish rogue pokes up the collar of a clownish dolt, who seems stuck fast in his lesson like an ass in a quagmire; there a culprit is making mouths at a boy laughing at him, to the great delight of the lookers-on; while the lesson-book masks apple-munching, cats-cradle, and other forbidden pastimes in various quarters. The eager delight or quiet enjoyment of the merry faces, and the doleful earnestness of the rest, are depicted with such nicety, animation, and ease, that the humble subject is raised to the highest point of excellence. Directly under it hangs a pretty. picture of French rustic life—Le Bon Cure, by F. Goodall; and near it is a characteristic head of a Jesuit, by Hart. On the other side of the door, on the line of sight, is Herbert's quaint picture of St. Gregory Teaching Boys to Chant; and contrasting with its dry, rigid ascetism, is a graceful group of water-nymphs, bearing Sabrina to the hall of old Nereus; cleverly drawn and painted by W. E. Frost. Passing over Allan's large and heavy *es- 'fight, we come to E. M. Ward's elaborate but caricatmish Scene in Lord Chesterfseld's Anteroom; where Dr. Johnson is waiting amidst a throng of beaux. courtesans, and hangers-on of nobility. Near to this is Charles Landseer's still-life history-piece, The Eve of the Battle of Edgehill; which has no higher merit than the neat painting of costumes and accessories. Be- tween another pair of Turner's gorgeous visions of Venice, blazing with sun- light that floods sea and sky, hangs Roberts's view of Jerusalem; which is -wanting in space and grandeur as well as transparency. In different parts of the room are three of Creswick's river-scenes, with rocky banks messed and crowned with foliage; sombre, yet fresh, and not devoid of sunny warmth.
As you enter the West Room, a colossal angel, Creel—grand in style as well as in size—commands attention; and bespeaks the painter to be one of the few English artists competent to work in fresco with power and ability. It is by Haydon; who we are glad to see thus vindicating his claims to notice with the vigour and finish of his early day. Another great picture above theline, and deserving of close attention, is The Mother of Moses about tb Deposit her Babe in the. Ark, by E. U. Eddis: it is highly finished and yet has powerful effect, and the sentiment of the subject is beautifully ex- pressed. Beneath it is an elaborate and carefully-painted picture, by Elmore—The Origin ff the Guelph and Ghibelline Quarrel: but the com- position is scattered, the figures are stiff, and the story is not successfully told. The Scene from Hamlet, where Ophelia first enters in her madness, has been depicted by F. Stone with dramatic (not theatrical) expression; and though Ophelia is a failure, the picture, from its merits as a painting alone, deserved a better place. The Arrest of William Tell, by W. Simson and Dr. Tillotson Administering the Sacrament to Lord William Russell sail his Wife before the execution, by A. Johnston, are meritorious attempts at subjects beyond the artists' powers. In homelier themes—such as The Village Pastor, by W. P. Frith, from the "Deserted Village "- Conne- mara Girls Bathing their Feet, by F. Goodall; and a group of Village"; and Chelsea Pensioners, by A. Morton—English artists are more at home. If they were to look more at the living world around them, instead of hunting out subjects in books, they would do their talents better justice, and excite a livelier interest in the public towards their productions. Two of Martin's non-natural landscapes, which he calls Paradises, (wherein the Fill of Man appears inevitable from the incapacity of Adam and Eve to Wand on their feet 1)—a calm, Calleotty Dutch waterscape, by Stanfield, a•-and an affected portrait of the Marchioness of Ailesbury, in Spanish costume, by Alfred Chalon—complete the salient points of this room.
Among the lifuilatures, those by Thorbtun of Prince Albert, the lovely sisters the Marchioness of Waterford and Lady Canning, and other ladies of rank, attract notice, by the depth and richness of the colour and effect; eclipsing those of Sir William Ross and Carrick, who rank next in excel- lence on ivory. Sir W. J. Newton's Christening of the Prince of Wales teminds -one of a group at Madame Tussaud's: the velvet is real but the persons are waxen dummies. Richmond's water-colour drawings of child- ren combine the ingenuous simplicity of youth and individual character in expression, with ideal grace of style. Alfred Chalon's ladies and gentle- - men seem made up by tailor, milliner, and coiffeur. F. Tatham's have Vigorous. character, and are not devoid of elegance. A life-size sketch of Professor Sedgwick, by S. Lawrence, is the finest crayon portrait in the mom: animated and energetic in expression and drawn with true refine- ment. One of Mulready's exquisite crayon-drawings—The Sonnet, (955,) a sketch for his picture—must not escape notice.
A passing peep into the Architectural room shows nothing to detain the visitor from the Sculpture. And here we should not linger long but for the fascinations of Cupid—a marble statue by Macdowell, of surpassing beauty: the attitude of the archer-boy as he draws a love-shaft from his quiver is simple and graceful, and a smile of innocent playfulness dimples his cheek and softens the intense gaze of his eye. The -composition is beautiful in every point of view, and the chiselling is exquisite: the wings of Cupid are of feathery softness. Lough's colossal statue of the Queen, for the Royal Exchange, has the look and action of a scold; and his Lady Macbeth is a corpse. A statue of Sir Sidney Smith, executed by Kirk for Greenwich Hospital, looks commonplace and insignificant; and Weekes's of the Marquis of Wellesley is stiff and undignified. A graceful group of Paul and Virginia, by W. C. Marshall—a Nymph preparing for the bath, by Baily—and a Dancing-Nymph, by Gott, with brass triangle—are con- spicuous statues. Of the numerous busts, the most striking, on a hasty glimpse, are those of King Louis Philippe, Professor Wilson, Thorbum the artist, Southey the poet, and Chief Justice Denman.
We propose to take closer cognizance of the Exhibition as opportunity offers.
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