BRITISH INSTITUTION.

TILE Exhibition of Pictures by Modern Artists, at the Gallery of this institution, opened on Tuesday, The greater number of paintings pos- sess considerable merit, and there are a few of surpassing excellence while many are of a very inferior description. It contains, as usual, several that have been before exhibited, most of which are of the. better sort. As a whole, the display is creditable to the British School of Painting, though it does not afford any striking examples of its im-. provement, and is deficient in productions of the most elevated cha- racter.

HILTON takes the lead with the only new Historical painting. His " Jacob parting with Benjamin" (178), is a picture of sterling

excellence,._sim i ple n its arrangement, unaffected in style, and of i touching interest. The old man s embracing the Lad, as for the last time ; and his other sons,

"The bearded men, with nervous, sinewy limbs," are looking on, their rugged natures subdued to a serious passiveness by the affecting scene. BOXALL'S " Cordelia" (382), is a successful delineation of suppressed sorrow. The union of calmness and emotion in the countenance of Cordelia is delicately expressed. Her regal state adds dignity to the pathos of the picture, and aids its effect as an illustration of the passage from Shakspeare-

" It seem'd she was a queen over her passion."

That it does not embody our idea of Cordelia, is no drawback from the merit of the picture. HART'S " Taking the Veil" (28), reminds us too closely of his for- mer works, both in its style and general effect. Its merits, therefore, call for less praise. We cannot expect an artist to change his style withi. his subject, but it is downright mannerism to treat all subjects alike ; awlia_the _present instance the-mode-of tie.twent is inappropriate. \tDWIN LANDSEER'S "Lassie herding Sheep" (186), is a masterli, study of rains, painted as only this artist can paint animals. The fleeces are equal to the coats of his dogs; and the pretty Shepherdess is not the least interesting part of the picture. 174, " The Auld Guid- wife," with her Bible before her, is a true picture of the relict of an old Highlander, whose claymore, with its hacked and rusted blade, hangs on the wall,-_a precious memorial of her " guidman" ant/ the fight of Culloden. Besides this picture, which we need scarcely say is beautifully painted, Mr. LANDSEER has a pretty little sketch of "Hawking" (23), and "The Challenge" (326), a deer belling a defiance to its antagonist. He also exhibits again "The Interior of a High. lender's House" (75), an inimitable work. Poor LIVERSEEGE'S " Recruit" (337), is a picture of genuine and in- trinsic merit, and makes us more than ever sensible of the true value of his talents now lost to the world of art. As a delineation of' natural character and a representation of the scene, it is perfect. The stupOs of surprise and regret depicted in the face of the recruit, the Oaf of his wife_, and the professional indifference, heightened by latent exultation, of the two smart, knowing soldiers, are expressed with great math. lit this class of subjects LWERSEEGE excelled. In embedvagiiteal ciao

ranters he was not so successful. His " Spanish Gentleman" (187), was intended for Don Quixote; and as such it is a failure, though a clever picture. LEsLii's studies of heads of Don Quixote and Sancho (280 and 284), with Which the public are familiar in the faithful and

highly-finished lithograph by Mr. LANE, are finely characteristic. The Don's countenance is mantled with the self-complacency of in- jured dignity, and Sancho's round visage is ready to burst with its ful- ness of perplexity. Mr. HOWARD has a pleasing picture of " The Dream of Queen Catherine " (67); and one of his poetical fancies allegorical of Morn- ing (201),-rather too complicated and confused a composition. 44 'Love the best Physician," by DEsToecuss, a French painter, (418), is a well-told story and an admirable picture. The sick lover's

expression is silly and feeble ; but the pretty cause of his sickness, looking down and blushing with rosy pudency, the mother, the physi- cian, the nurse, and even the old servant, are all true to nature. The drawing and painting are masterly ; the colouring is colder, and more subdued in tone than the pictures around it ; but it is not faulty, and is an excellent specimen of the French school. G. CLINT'S 44 Falstaff" (99), is too sedate, and Mrs. Quickly too amiable and lady-like a tapstress ; Pistol is good-he is a true swag- gerer, melancholy with sobriety after last night's debauch.

LEAHY'S " Sunset at Sea" (525), is the original design for the picture of Mary Queen of Scats' departure from France. The picture, to be worthy of the sketch, must be one of first-rate excellence. '1'. 'VON Hor.sT's 44 Tintoretto Lecturing his Disciples" (445), is more like a magician instructing a circle of German students in the art mystical. " An Antiquary" (52), by A. FRASER, would be a perfect work if the figures were painted in a style equal to the old armour that is scat- tered about ; at present it is only valuable for the elaborate and mas- terly finish of the accessories. "A Falconer" (5), by the same artist, is a clever study ; the hawk especially.

LANCE has two or three of his splendid displays of ornamental " Still- Life," fruit, flowers, game, tke., (38, 82, and 303). He has taught us to be satisfied with nothing less than the perfection of imitation, and now we always look for it in his works : it is this that alone makes the subjects valuable. 82 is deficient in completeness of effect ; and 303 is too uniform and metallic in texture. Why does not Mr. °mein Paint groups of fruit, instead of giving us apples, peaches, R:e. in plates, as though he were furnishing forth a niggardly dessert ? It is exercising skill without taste, and imitating objects mechanically, for painting which, the grouping and arrangement of colours constitute the only justification of the artist. Portraits, as such, arc not admitted into thisgallm; they are there- fore smuggled in under false names. Geonui: HArrEa reappears after a long absence in France, but we cannot say with improved taste. "A Contadina" (19), is the portrait of a lady in the costume of a Ro-

man peasant girl ; and " La Toilette" is also a portrait. The colouring is forcible, with a tendency to hardness ; and the flesh tints are rather opaque, and somewhat of a briek-dust hue. A coronet of brilliants in the last-mentioned picture eclipses the rest of the painting. His brother JOHN has also a portrait of the Honourable Mrs. Norton, designated "La Poetessa " (167) ; which is painted in a good style, though somewhat crude.

BOTHWELL has a female portrait, called " The Village" (158), re- markable for the purity of its tone and colour, though there is a ten- dency to brownness in the flesh tints. It is a very striking and pleas- ing picture. Neither be nor G. HAYTER excel in painting hair. Mrs. W. CARPENTER has a "Study from Nature" of a Child (39), painted in a good broad style, though rather red in colour. J. BOA- DEN has several portraits in costume, of which "A Rustic Boy" (228), and " Swiss Peasant" (248), are the best ; " The Orphan" (388), is heavy and muddy. J. Hot.i.ixs disappoints us : 100, "'Italian Girl with Greyhound," is his best picture, which we wish had been toned down a little. J. Woon's "Cupid and Sea Nymph" (177), is designed in the style of HOWARD; and his " Venus and Cupid" (460), coloured in the style of Ern. His portrait, "Thalia," is painted in his own, but not in his best style, which is that of his Ophelia. We wish this young artist would trust to nature and his own resources ; he can paint well. INSKIPP has a "Fisherman" and a "Rustic Girl" (465 and 582), -both "Wild Hampshire," as they say of rabbits, and cleverly painted in the artist's peculiar manner, brown and flat. He can, however, do something better than paint studies. W. PATTEN has a picture of " Famine " (506), well conceived and grimly painted ; the expression is wild and scowling, but not truly characteristic. It might be Hate. There is too much energy in the look and attitude: Famine prostrates the strength.

" Mahnaison " and "Austerlitz" (396 and 412), by MORTON, arc an interesting pair of pictures, affording a striking contrast. The former represents Napole:on asleep in his arm-chair before the fire, and is a front view ; the latter is a back view of the Emperor in the field : the one all warmth and repose, the other all cold and ac- tion. The last is the best, and is a clever picture. Napoleon, in his grey coat, stands in the snow with one arm behind him holding a per- spective glass, the other extended in the act of directing some move- ment of his troops. The figure, attitude, and air of Bonaparte, are faithful and characteristic ; and though the scene is cold, the picture is not. In the front view Mr. Moierox has failed. The face is not that of Napoleon; it looks like a mask. The fire-light is too yellow, and the colouring inharmonious. "A Gipsy Girl" (411), by the same artist, is characteristic ; but the colouring is rather hard.

17, 150, and 443, are clever studies of costume, by J. M. LEIGH. Of his" Jephthah" (449), we cannot speak favourably. He has a laudable ambition, but these subjects require the highest powers and most mature skill : he may excel in lighter subjects. JOSEPH NASH affects a dashing style of painting, and the gayest colouring, in "Edward the Fourth and Lady Gray" (573); and "Ann Page and Slender" (434). He possesses talent, to which he should do justice by studying the figure: the disproportions of Page and Slender are preposterous. Of the Comic pictures and scenes of familiar life, T. WEBSTER'S a Effects of Intemperance" (a moral title, 245), is the best; but his

drunkard is it mere mechanical sot, compared with the genial toper who last figured in the stocks in his picture at the Suffolk Street Gal- lery. There, too, the offender at once supplied a moral and pleaded mitigation in his own person :. here we have the accompaniments of an important beadle, the wife and mother, mocking boys, and a plump

little urchin with a grave look of pity and rebuke ; making altogether a very mush r'y,. picture, which is well painted, with good variety of ex- pression. In " 'flue Card-Players " (29), by the same, the old man looks too itbstracted. " The Love-Letter" (523), is more a picture of still-life ; the girl's expression is not the best part of it. Goon's vraisenildances of diameter reconcile us by their sheer truth and force to the cold, sharp light which lie throws on all his figures.

" An old retired Comedian " (11), must be the very man himself; and in 282, the expression both of reader and listener is perfectly real. It is like seeing the persons in a camera,-which we think the

artist employs, judging from his peculiar style. KNIGHT'S " Bit of Courtship" (60), is tr characteristic scene, but sketchily painted, and very raw in its gay colours. FARRIER'S " Philosopher in search of the Wind " (370), a boy who has ripped open the bellows in the ardour of his pursuit of knowledge, is a capital idea spoiled by being overstrained : the artist's manner is also too apparent and forced, and his style hard. An undue straining after effect is likewise the fink of 'I'. CLATER, in 43.5 and 269, " The Return from the Masked Ball." Ease and sim- plicity would make these pictures more valuable as well as agreeable. R. W. Buss, though he makes the point of his pictures tell broadly and forcibly, does not let his manner mar the nature of the incident. His old Maid enjoying " The Comfort of Listening " (220), is a whole- some and amusing satire on that meanness. C. HANCOCK has three very clever pictures of Dogs, too palpably in imitation of Enivis LANDSEER. " Saved from the Wreck" (47), is a smuggler whom an old woman is restoring to sense. The glossy bald pate of the sailor looks more like that of a respectable elderly gen- tleman ; but the dogs are natural in action and expression : the white one lying down is beautifully painted. " Possession" (202), a bull-dog with a piece of meat keeping a circle of hungry curs at bay; and " Warreners" (542), are also good. There is, however, a want of relief to give roundness of form ; besides which, there is too great a predominance of brown in the colour of their coats, the texture of which is also too uniform in appearance. T. W000wean's horses in "The Rick-side" (30), and " Crossing the Ford" (206), are exquisitely finished. They are equal to those of COOPER, and somewhat in his style, but in imitation of nature. W. DANIELL, R. A. has also some pretty little pictures of foreign animals-3, 4, 9, 10, 118, and 125. In Marine subjects, STANFIELD is of course preeminent. His view of Portsmouth (1), painted for the King, is an excellent picture, in a good style, with a inure tone of colour, rather cold, but not perhaps too much so. It is not the finest of this artist's works, but is very like the scene itself; and but that the sea is not so fluent as it should be, we have no exception to make. J. WitsoN's marine pictures are forcible imitations of natural effects of sea and sky. 109, "Barmouth," is beautiful in this respeet; but it has his prevailing faults-incomplete- ness and consequent NVallt of keeping, and an undue predominance of blue-black colour, which is a blot on his canvas: this peculiarity is particularly observable in 134. F. R. LEE has made great progress ; and his trees are, without ex- ception, the best in the exhibition. He evinces both understanding of and feeling for nature. His "View on the Dart" (166), is perfect truth, and painted with great delicacy; the light-leaved trees of the . copse in the foreground, and the distant bill, with the grey moist over- hanging clouds, are beautifully painted. The water is rather slaty; it does not flow. The '4 Thnber-waggon crossing a Brook" (185), is . rather heavy, and the picture wants atmosphere. "Landscape, with Beech Trees" (264), has been improved, we think, since it was exhi- bited at Somerset House. " Cottage with Figures" (526), is rather cold ; indeed, we could always wish for alittle sunshine, brighter lights, and deeper shades, in Mr. LEE'S pictures ; they are so excellent that we wish them to be perfect. 80, "Scene on the Dart, with approach- ing Thunderstorm," is, excepting the water, quite so. Mr. LEE iS making choice of effects similar to those which O'Coe:Non delights to represent ; though the latter confines himself more to rocky glens and waterfalls. Mr. O'Coxxoe, however, is too systematic; not only are his scenes and effects similar, but his compositions and mode of treat- ment. We refer to 65 and 66, a pair of Waterfalls. His "Scene in the Dargle, Wicklow" (477), is a bolder picture, and the water only wants to flow; the rocks, we almost think, are too minutely imitated. 495, "Moonlight," is a grand scene ; and the moon gliding out from beneath a veil of cloud is a fine touch of nature: but would not the effect of its light be broader? Hot-LAND has several of his true but too feeble transcripts or Lake and Mountain Scenery, with broad natural effects,-46, 89, 374. " Borrowdale " (496), would be a grand as well as a faithful one, had the foreground more force. In" The Falls of Tcrni" (491), the upper fall is too near the eye' and the want of distance destroys the beauty of the scene : it is dwarfed into the portrait of a mimic cascade in a citizen's pleasure-ground. W. SCROPE'S "Landscape composition"- (405), is in a style similar to HOFLAND.S, and with similar beauties and defects. The ruins of a temple would denote the scene to be Grecian; if so, the atmosphere is too dim. It is a fine picture nevertheless. F. C. LEWIS senior has two slight and sketchy scenes (514 and 568), which display skill and feeling, and when seen from a little distance have a very natural effect; the trees especially. J. F. LEWIS (the water-colour painter) has also a clever view of Covent Garden Market, which is spoiled by mannerism. The fruit, flowers, and vege- tables, which constitute such a rich display of colour, appear to be all covered over with cabbage-leaves. The lady in the foreground appears to be sinking into the earth with fatigue, and looks a solitary figure in a wilderness of vegetables; though there are others, and in the fore- ground too. This ought to have been a good picture, and it may yet be made one. BARRETT has also a sunset in oils, but with all the flat- ness and feebleness of his water-colour paintings, and stippled in the same manner. 0 this mannerism ! it is the bane of excellence. COPLEY FIELDING has some good oil paintings. 59, a classical Landscape, is a Claude-like composition, rather heavy, but the

trees well painted. 248, "Distant View of Goderich Castle," is a beautiful scene. 278 and 287 are likewise good. C. R. STANLEY has two bright little Landscapes (61 and 74); " Mantes on the Seine" (108); " Sunset, Shoreham " (173); all possessing the great merit of

being like nature. Among Mr. TENNANT'S Landscapes, 384, " Hastings Cattle," is the most beautiful : it is a clear and brilliantly painted picture, and worthy of a better place. A. NA SMYTH'S "View of Edinburgh" (45), is minutely accurate, but cold and dull. 520 and 557, Landscapes, are likewise cold and feeble. The landscapes of BARKER, EA RI., A. CLINT, WATTS, CRESWICK, STARK, SHAVER, &e. will well repay the attention of the visitor; as also will LINNELL'S rustic scenes, so faithful yet so hard—so true to nature, yet so mannered (vide 7, 78, and 279). WITHERINGTON'S " Rustic (Alain" (91), is a pretty picture of children's rural sports; his "liar- vesting" (5/3), exhibited before, we arc surprised is not sold. Every one can appreciate such a subject, and it is a delightful picture beauti- fidly painted. This artist has also two views of the Royal Procession on the River, on the occasion of the opening of the new London Bridge (265 and 267). They are gay little pictures, with clear, bright colouring. G. JONES, R. A. has two brilliant little sketches (281 and 285) of " The Mole at Naples," and " Poitieo of Oetavia, Rome." J. Bun- TON also exhibits two or three very clever little foreign scenes (36, 160, and 43:3.) D. ROBERTS'S " Cathedral at Botterdam" (22) is an effec- tive picture, but it has the fluilt of mannerism ; and A. G. VICKERS junior appears to think that fault a virtue, for his pictures are little else but slight sketches in oil, with scarcely any colour, and all the same class of subjects, and similar in effect and style, both of which ate A-la- Bonington (vide 34, 274, 372, and 419). 475, " Beekingham Gate, Kent," by C. MARSHALL, is a masterly study of a ruin, with a simple effect and true to nature, and gives us a very favourable opinion of the skill and feeling of the painter. A promising Landscape, by G. BAR- NARD (85), hangs so high, that we must take its merits for granted. The same may be said of 43, J. RENTON'S " View of Windermere," with its sky a-la-Turner. There are many works of promise which our limited space will not Allow us to notice ; we have endeavoured to select the most prominent. In glancing over our catalogue, however, we find that we had marked, among others-20, "The Meeting of the Barons at London, with Car- dinal Langton," by HERBERT SMITH. 41, " The Young Student," by W. M‘Cati.; the portrait of a boy with good expression, but raw in colour. 58, " Composition," J. THOMPSON. 77, " The Plain Gold Ring," J. R. HEanmer. 106, "Portrait of Northcote," J. KING. 151, " Sir Edward Waverley," Miss COOK. 210, "Italian Peasant," W. DAVIES. 270, "Sea-Morning," W. L/NTON. 135, " The Tourist," J. J. CHALON. 293, "Hawking Party," J. FAULKNER. 325, "Mar- gate Sands, sunset," G. P. REINAGLE. 379, " The Wanderer," W. BROUGH. 399 and 403, Studies of Horses, by F. PICKERING. 456, " The Music Lesson," Miss ALABASTER. 463, " Highland Pass," Miss NASMYTIL 505, " Landscape and Cattle," A. B. VAN Won- BELL. 558, "St. Michael's Mount," H. W. BURGESS. Among the pictures which have been before exhibited, the " Sir Calepine" of HILTON is the finest; but there are otheis, also, which we have not enumerated, that will bear a second view.