ART.
THE OLD MASTERS AT BURLINGTON HOUSE. IT is not easy to recall a winter Exhibition at the Academy of equal interest to the one now being held. The wealth of private collections seems inexhaustible. Not only the galleries of historic houses, but those of more recent formation, have yielded treasures of the greatest interest and importance. Beginning with the Italian school, it is delightful to see the beautiful Madonna dei Candelabri of Raphael (No. 29). What other painter could fill a circular space like this ? It is impossible to conceive a more felicitous design, granted the material and the space. There is no feeling that the figures have been arranged so that they should fill the circle. The composition is as inevitable as it is harmonious. Without the complication of cross-lights which realism would have introduced from the torches, the picture has a lurid light in it which is strangely effective. So also is the result produced by the shadowed heads of the two boy-angel torchbearers, while domi- nating the whole work is the face of the Child, radiant with a life which is subdued in the faces of the angels and in that of the Virgin. There is another version of this picture, and to decide as to which is the original would be difficult unless the two were placed side by side. It seems unlikely, however, that Sir Charles Robinson's version, which is now exhibited, could lose by a comparison, so fine is the colour, modelling, and execution. Another work of great beauty is the Toilet of Venus attributed to Giovanni Bellini (No. 28). This picture has been by some ascribed to Bissolo, but the name matters little. Those who know most tell us that there always remain a number of pictures of high excellence, but without pedigrees, as to the authorship of which it is amusing to speculate, but about which finality is impossible. It is much better in the present instance not to spend any time in examining the details of the picture in the hopes of finding a fancied characteristic of the master to whom one wishes to ascribe the work. Instead let us enjoy the beautiful pose of the figure, the noble treatment of the undraped body, and the exquisite colour of both the flesh and the subtly painted background. Another Venetian picture of great charm is the portrait group by an unknown painter (No. 32). It is an example of how many fine works of the second order were produced in Venice in the sixteenth century, when painting elsewhere in Italy was falling into decay. The conservation of power was no doubt due to the fact that the late Venetians painted the world as they saw it, and did not deal so much with abstractions as did the Roman and Bolognese schools. The present example is a charming group of people out of doors who have met to make music. A peculiarity of the picture, is that so little of the medium— size or tempera—has been used that the surface is almost that of a pastel or fresco. This quality of colour is very pleasant amid the surrounding varnished pictures for its silvery tones ; the reds and oranges are warm without being hot. Before leaving the Italian pictures attention must be called to the portrait of the Milanese lady by Ambrogio de Predis (No. 20).
The portrait by Frans Halo of Admiral de Buyter (No. 47) is one of those perfect works where the utmost brilliancy of execution never interferes for a moment with the expression and harmony of the work as a whole. No passage seems painted for the sake of display, and yet the picture abounds in things which are the triumphs of a virtuoso of painting. But side by side with the display is the patient search after forrn and modelling, as may be seen in the sensitive treatment of the nose, in which every plane and tone has been observed and recorded with the utmost precision. The vitality of the work we feel to be enormous, even if we are conscious that the observation of character has been superficial compared to the great works of portraiture by Velasquez or Titian. Among the minor Dutch pictures a Still Life (No. 51), by W. Klaas Heda, stands out for its beauty of colour and quality of paint,; and the small landscape, View of Amsterdam, by Jan Van der Heyden (No. 63), is beautiful in every inch of its exquisitely wrought surface. In this picture the realisation of the character of every building and the caress of the sunlight are rendered with perfect skill.
The famous Rembrandt portrait of a boy (No. 60) belonging to Lord Spencer is here, and its wonderful beauty and subtlety make it ever welcome. Another very fine example of this master is the Old Lady (No. 56). This picture is in the artist's later manner, and has those peculiar qualities colour and painting which only he attained.
Among the most beautiful things in the Exhibition is a, portrait of a lady, about which hitherto not much has been known, by Holbein (No. 13). It is impossible to describe its beauty, for how can words express the subtlety of drawing that Holbein has put into the mouth, or the lovely harmony of colour made by the brown dress and the background P A charming baby, a Dauphin, by "Le Peintre des Bourbons " (No. 10), should be noticed for its expressive drawing of eyes and mouth, as should the noble portrait of himself by Sir Antonio More (No. 8).
The English pictures cover a wide field, and though they rise to great eminence in some cases, they also fall to undis. tinguished depths in others. Among the most interesting things in this section of the Exhibition are an unfinished Hogarth and a portrait by Alfred Stevens. Before the works of the latter master the Academy should do penance in sack- cloth and ashes for the neglect his genius suffered when during his lifetime they might have fostered powers so great and so unusual. In the present instance (No. 156) we see the sculptor painting with the certainty and accomplishment of one who had done nothing else. Here is a living man looking from the canvas, represented with the combined simplicity and insight only possible to a master. The work by Hogarth, The Happy Marriage (No. 135), is supposed to be one of an uncompleted series which was to show the reverse of Marriage is is Mode. The picture appears to be unfinished, and perhaps gains from this, for there is a freedom of handling and a spontaneousness of expression wholly delight- ful which might not have survived in a finished work. It is difficult to fancy anything of its kind more charming than the head of the bride, or more beautiful than the shadowed figure of the young husband, which, from the absence of satire in the work, are free from all suspicion of the grotesque.
Among many fine portraits by Reynolds, one stands out as a splendid example of the artist. It is the Mr. R. Barwelt and his Son (No. 110). This fine-looking man, the friend of Warren Hastings—for whom the picture was painted—is sitting in his library, and turns round to welcome his little son who is coming into the room. The perfect naturalness of the action of the figures is only equalled by the splendour of the colour and painting, which shows Reynolds at his best. Particularly fine is the treatment of the books on the shelves and the map bathed in light. Another notable picture is the Countess Spencer and her Daughter (No. 96), in which we see how deeply interested Sir Joshua was in the group, as is shown by the careful realisation of the work.
Gainsborough is seen to great advantage in the full-length Hon. Anne Duncombe (No. 87). The painting of the blue and the white satin of the dress is as fine as it contd be, and the solidity of the figure leaves nothing to be desired. The face perhaps hardly dominates the picture sufficiently, and we are more interested—as apparently was Gainsborough—in the clothes than in the lady. There is no want of attraction in the faces of either Miss Linky (No. 91) or Dr. Pearce of Bath (No. 114). In these Gainsborough shows his enormous power of conveying life to the canvas. By the side of such works as these by Gainsborough and Reynolds the portraits of Romney look flat, lifeless, and dull ; indeed, the painting seems to foreshadow the oleograph, and the sentiment the illustrated supplement.
Among the works of recent English painters are to be seen some beautiful landscapes by the late J. Charles. One of these, A Chalk Pit (No. 154), is a work of great thoroughness and accomplishment, and full of beautiful light and colour. Many of the works in the last room we feel had better not have been dragged from their obscurity, and there is no good in showing such tame and lifeless things as the two pictures by Leighton. But with so splendid a collection, taking it as a whole, we can afford to pass over a certain
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