FINE ARTS.
PICTORIAL PERIODICALS.
TnE views in the three last Parts ( V., VI., and VII.) of Boscos's Wanderings through North Wales, are, with a single exception, from the free and sober pencil of DAVID Cox, one of the most characteristic and unsophisticated sketchers of English rural scenery. his style is not vell adapted for engravings which come in contrast with the forcible effects of the highly-wrought drawings of TURNER, STANFIELD, and HARDING ; but the admirer of art as well as the lover of nature will turn to Cox's pastoral scenes with unalloyed pleasure. His views have the out-door look which is the greatest charm of landscape : they make you sensible of the breezy freshness in the air, the moist green- ness of the turf, the clearness of the cool, flowing stream, and the r!- pose of the secluded scene. There is nothing in the artist's work to -distract your attention from nature ; you are carried at once into the open country, and breathe the air of heaven. His pictures are, more- over, as accurate as the most matter-of-fact observer could desire. lie does not exaggerate or falsify details, as TURNER often does, to en- hance the grandeur of the pictorial effect : all is simplicity and truth. The sweetest views in the parts before us are Conway, with a shower fulling over the old castle, and
"
hiding the green hill in an April shroud ;"
Lake of Tal-y-Llyn, a miniature Albano under a serene glowing sun- light effect ; Pont-y- Pair, a thoroughly Welsh scene, of romantic rus- ticity; and the Trifaen Mountain, whose bleak and barren wildness makes the verdurous beauty of Llanilltyd Vale appear more lovely by contrast.
The views in STANFIELD'S Coast Scenery are improving in the only quality in which we think them at all defective—namely, atmosphenc effects. In that of Hamoaze, Plymouth, in Part V., is a bold and successful attempt to represent that most evanescent and beautiful of ahrial appearances, a rainbow. The whole scene wears the aspect of a showery day; the water has that peculiarly smooth mirror-like sur- face which is characteristic of clearing after rain. The boats off East Cliff, Hastings, are in buoyant motion, and most picturesquely introduced ; and the waves are fluent: the cliff, however, conies a little too forward still. In the view of Powderham Park, the castle in the middle distance is sacrificed to bring out the distant view of Exmouth. The extreme darkness of the hovel in the view of Rye Old Harbour, gives it a theatrical effect; but the details are masterly. Indeed, in all these views the local correctness and nautical know- ledge that are the chief rccommendations of STANFIELD'S pictures, are admirable; and if we appear fastidious in criticising them, it is not only because we desire to see the deficiencies supplied, but that we think the painter able and willing to remedy any defect that could be proved to belong to then,.
When we look back to the engraved landscapes in picture-books, that were thought beautiful twenty or thirty years ago, the great supe- riority of these of the present day appears so striking, that we begin to think whether we are not applying too high a standard in judging of them ; but the very excellence of the works, by awakening our admiration of their merits, makes us more sensible of their defects ; and to discri- minate between them is the only way thoroughly to enjoy their beau- ties, for then we can ourselves put aside the defects, if the artist him- self does not remove them. As critics, we are bound in duty to point out faults with a view to their correction ; but where that disagreeable task is useless, we can enjoy one genuine touch of nature though sur- rounded by many deficiencies. STOTHARD'S defective and feeble draw- ing never prevents us from seeing the grace, innocence, and loveliness of Ins charming creations, that the soul of beauty animates—see the vignette, of a cavalier about to assist his lady from her palfrey, at the head of a short piece called "An Interview," in ROGERS'S Poetical If orb, Part VIII., passim : there is another exquisite little group, too, on the opposite page, which has all the elegance of GUIDO, with the simplicity and tenderness peculiar to STOTHARD. In the same part there are some views by TURNER, whose excesses in some of his oil paintings almost shake one's faith in the healthiness of his percep- tions and the vivid truth of his representations of nature ; but when we see such sober, simple, and beautiful realities as this little vignette of Rome from the Tiber, with the stately Bridge and massive Castle of St. Angelo near the eye, and the dome of St. Peter's lifted up in lofty magnificence in the distance—and that where the vast plain of the Campagna is stretched out in desert-like extent, with one solitary fragment of Roman grandeur standing in the midst—we forget the faults of the painter, and worship the genius that can spread out miles of space, pile up mountains and stately edifices, and shed over the whole the brilliance of sunlight, transporting us in fancy to the very scene itself. In a word, we cavil at no defects that do not obscure some of the beauty of nature. The viee s in Part XIX. of FINDEN'S Landscape Illustrations of the Bible are by HARDING and ROBERTS—we still miss TURNER and CALLCOTT. The distant view of Cana of Galilee, by HARDING, is a bright, cheerful landscape, though the scene has a wild aspect. The group of women and travellers at the well in the foreground contri- butes greatly to its brilliant effect : tile clouds are beautifully natural. HARDING'S view of the Summit of Sinai, with its ruined mosque and rude ascent of stone steps, and the huge masses of mountain beyond, would have been more impressive had the figures been omitted : they serve to show the size of the fragments of stone and the remaining buildings ; but solitude would have increased the desolation of the scene, and been more in keeping with the sublime events with which tins mountain is associated. The texture of the stones is admirably indicated ; but the distant summits come too near the eye, and those in the middle distance appear consequently insignificant. lionaxa's view of Hebron is heavy and tame, and wants atmosphere sadly; and his version of Mr. CATHERWOOD'S drawing of the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem conveys BO idea whatever of the splendid appearance of this superb structure. It is almost wholly in shadow, cast we know not from what object; and it looks more like a pile of dirty wood-work than one of white marble and glazed tiles, of which the surface is composed. The lustrous appearance of the marble pavement, too, is exaggerated into the effect of a platform flooded with water.
Messrs. Harms' and BRAYLEY'S History and Description tf the Late Houses ni Parliament is drawing to a close. Part IX. contains no less than seven plates of the details of St. Stephen's Chapel, which will be of great use to those architects who contemplate the rebuilding of this structure as one of the features of the design for the new Houses.
In speaking of the head called " Beatrice," in the last number of Byron Beauties, we said it was a misnomer. We are glad, on the artist's account, to learn that it was an accidental one. JOIIN WRIGHT contributed two beads in illustration of the Prophecy of Dante,—one of Francesa, the other of Beatrice ; and by some mischance the names had been reversed. The fact of the error not having been discovered by the editor, shows how little care is taken that the character of the head should correspond with the ideal creation of the poet. Part XL contains an affected face crowning a flaunting display of blonde, 8m., by Cuasos, which is christened " Haidee." Can this be the mistake of the artist, in giving us the portrait of a sentimental fashionable lady attired in MARADAN'S version of the Greek costume, instead of the lovely, innocent, and confiding child of nature, whose looks reflect every feeling of her heart—whose glass was the sea and her boudoir a cave ?
No. XLI. of the Gallery of Portraits contains Raleigh, Jenner, and Maskelyne. Independent of the interest and value of the por- traits, the accidental grouping together of three eminent men whose minds and countenances are generally so widely different, is a provoca- tive to a reconsideration of their individual characters. However the physiognomist may be perplexed with the various and often singular sets of features, the phrenologist will generally be satisfied by observ- ing the forehead, though the painter perhaps knew nothing of GALL and SPURZHEIM.
The portraits of ladies of rank in the Court Magazine are so beau- tifully engraved, that they claim separate notice as works of art. That of Ludy Hanmer, by Mrs. JAMES ROBERTSON, is a very pleasing and animated picture of an English lady. A number of these portraits, and some views of noblemen's seats, by DANIELL, that have embel- lished the Court Magazine, together with some selections from the literary portion of this periodical, have been bound up elegantly in morocco, and published as an Annual : The English Annual it is called—it might have been with propriety termed " The Court, or Aristocratic Annual," since all its embellishments appertain each'. sively to the world of fashion.
The new Paris edition of MOLIERE, now publishing in numbers in London, corresponding with that of Gil Blas, which was noticed in the Spectator a short time since, is illustrated by TONY JOHANNOT, who is one of the leading French artists of the present day, in the picturesque style which is happily succeeding to the statuesque. TONY JOHAN*. NOT, in common with most of his fellows, displays that knowledge of the figure and costume, and that skill and facility in drawing and de- signing, which are the characteristics of French art. Like his bre- thren of the new school, too, his treatment of costume is ultra- picturesque, verging sometimes On exaggeration ; his delineation of character and expression of humour is apt to run into caricature and grimace ; and in his conception of scenes he is theatrically dramatic. In fact, he appears to take more pains to attract the eye of the super- ficial reader than to satisfy the student of MOLIERE. The intrinsic value of the designs does not always bear out their external pretensions and executive merits. TONY ionasneor, however, evinces comic humour and a lively fancy; and the spirit and talent of his sketches are admirable. Their fantastic character looks like an irrepressible gusto of manlier that runs into excess for want of depth. The wood- engravings are spirited and forcible in effect, and highly finished.
We like to see the pages of standard authors thus illuminated, like old missals, with wood-cuts of initial letters of fanciful device, head and tail pieces, and designs inlaid in the text. The old fashion is reviving ; and the excellence of wood-engravings, which is now equal to ahnost any difficulty in art, will spread it more and more.
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