PICTURES AND ARTISTS.

EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY.

THE display of pictures this year is, we think, superior to that of last; though there are but few Historical Paintings, a more than usual pre- ponderance of Portraits, and by no means a numerous collection of Landscapes. But the greater number of these productions are of the better sort, and not a few of the very highest order of merit. WILKIE'S grand picture, John Knox Preaching before the Lords of the Congregation in Me Church of St. Andrew's in lifrehire (134), is the polar star which attracts all eyes. It is painted in a broad and power- ful style, with rich colouring, but subdued to the solemnity of the place and the impressive character of the scene. Knox, who,. in defiance of a threat of assassination, has just arrived from his protracted exile in Geneva, appears like a great black eagle about to swoop down upon the priestly band before him; he leans over the pulpit, from which he

islaunching forth his denunciations, his eyes flashing fire, and his hands clutched as if he would seize upon their gilded mitres in his fanatic rage. Nothing can be finer in conception or better expressed than this figure; it is at once characteristic of the man and of Ins sect. Near the pulpit, on one side, are the Protestant followers of Knox ; on the other, two females, waiting with a child to be baptized,—a pleasing incident, that by its familiarity aids the reality of the scene. Under the pulpit is the precentor with his hour-glass. Opposite to Knox, in the fore- ground, is seated a group of listeners, composed of the Regent Murray, the Earls of Glencairue and Morton, and the Countess of Morton with her attendant. Directly in front of the preacher, are the Arch- bishop of St. Andrew's, Bishop Beatoun, and the Abbot Kennedy ; the Archbishop glares angry defiance at Knox, and the other two churchmen seem uneasy under the infliction. In the gallery are the Provost and Baillies, with a portion of the congregation. The histo- rical personages are finely portrayed, with individual character and ap- propriate expression. The arrangement of the groups in the composi- tion, the style in which the costumes of the persons and the ornaments of the church arc treated—in short, the whole picture, both in its de- tails and general effect, evinces the hand and mind of a master. In this picture, the genius of IVILKIE has burst the trammels of early habit and education, and grapples with a national and spirit-stirring subject, worthy of his consummate skill as a painter. This is his best, his greatest work : we hope it will be the precursor of a long series, better if possible, though we can wish for nothing finer in its way. We feel a little personal exultation at WiLxis's success in a picture of this class ; be- cause, when we saw his sketches of Spanish subjects, his " Siege of Zaragossa," and others, wherein lie gave the first indications of that power and grandeur of style which characterize his present picture, %ve, in the fulness of our surprise and admiration, hailed them as mani- festations of a soaring genius, and anticipated for him the fame of an historical painter. Our prophecy was then received incredulously, and we were referred to the failure of his " Alfred" as a proof of his inability to become a painter of history. We had certainly at the time forgotten that instance ; and when the " Visit of George the Fourth to Holyrood " was exhibited, we began to regret the disappointment of cur fond an-

ticipations ; but WILKIE has DOW nobly fulfilled the promise of his Spanish sketches. His colouring, also, is purified of that treacly hue .which deformed the flesh of his portraits. lie has not lost himself in a slough of asphaltum, as TURNER did in a mist of chrome yellow. We have hardly been able to abstract our attention from Maxim's gorgeous scenes, notwithstanding the concentrating interest of WILKIE'S

picture ; which we put first on our list, not because it occupies the post of honour in the Academy, but as it is the finest, nay, almost the only real historical picture in the Exhibition. But we could not personally

pay it the respect of a first attention ; our eye caught the splendid Imes of TURNER'S haly (70), illustrative of that fine passage in Childe Harold, beginning, " Fair Italy ! thou art the garden of the world ;" and we were riveted as by a spell—there was no resisthig the attraction ; so we e'en sated our senses with its luxuriant richness. Let not the visitor who goes to the Exhibition between the hours of eleven and five, expect to see this or even Mum's picture : we had no such vain imaginings, and, therefore, were "stirring with the lark ;" and as we looked out upon the bright face of the laughing spring glisten- ing in the morning sun, which tricked out with pure golden light her fresh green mantle of foliage, we thought of the fervid glow with which TURNER'S pencil would invest " the garden of tie world." As we sped our way into town, we could think of nought else. Even the smoke of the great city, as it wreathed into the fresh morning air, had some- thing Turnerish about it. But the clouds that obscured the blue, and made cold the gleams of sunshine, obliged us to confess the truth of CALLCOTT'S effects in painting the sunlight of an English climate. The Academy, be it known to all who go to see the pictures and not sometimes to the sun) till he reaches the middle of the room, look " Youth at the prow, and Pleasure at the helm

him dwell upon it till the ruddy hues begin to burn and become bril- t passengers are uncomfortably crowded ; the flesh of the male, and

bant with light, and the retiring parts of the picture appear to have ' indeed of some of the female figures, is leathery, and the colour- come forward, so that the perfect keeping of the whole has mellowed nag is muddy. It is physical voluptuousness, of not the most &ed-

its refulgent tone into one rich harmonious whole. Then he will see nating kind. 215 is " A Finished Sketch,"—an anomalous term,

five vision of nature seen by the waking mind of genius, and trans- Evil interrupting the orgies of the Vicious and Intemperate :" parts of it ferred to canvas by the consummate skill of a master-hand. He will are clever, but as a whole we cannot appreciate it highly. NEWTON is feel that it is the poetry of art and of nature 'combined_that it gone to America ; there is nothing of his this year except a small portrait. bears the same relation to the real scene as does BYRON'S description. MuLasADY, besides his admirable picture of " Touchwood and the The cerulean blue of the eastern sky; the pure yellow tinge in the Curate of St. Ronan's" (139), engraved for the Waverley Novels, and west ; the flood of radiance that illumines every object, burnishing with which we have before spoken of in terms of high praise, has another of

ruddy golden tints each point of a building on the city-crowned heights a cottage girl hearing her brother his lesson (133) : the looks of both

that catches the light ; the transparent haze that hovers on the misty arc intensely true to nature and the incident : why waste such skill -mountain-tops, and that rises from the spray of the blue waters upon an uninteresting subject ? COLLINS has two bright and pleasing

verdure,, and the group of figures (such figures !—but no matter) players" (112); both delightfully painted, and looking like the actual in the foreground, like a heap of flowers, with the yellow section scenes. " The Fair Maid of Perth giving the Kiss to the Sleeper on St.

brilliancy to the colour, — all these are blended in one burst of sets about commencing the charm in rather a mechanical style. The dazzling brightness. He who should look upon such a picture, portrait of Sir Walter Scott in his study, we do not like as a resem- and not be sensible of its beauty—ay, and of its truth too—has no blame, nor do we admire the painting of the head the interior, with

poetry in his mind. Such a one could not feel the truth of its curious relics, is well painted. COOPER has several pictures, of poetry Pastoral Symphony, or be sensible to the beauty of which " The Baggage Waggon" (98) and " The Retreat" (127) HAYDN'S Creation. If we have been rhapsodizing, TURNER must please us most ; they are stirring battle-pieces, and painted in his best bear the blame. Here are several of his sea-pieces, with skies style. " Hawking," by EDWIN LANDSEER (346), represents a falcon whose clouds we expect to shift while we look at them, and welter-. with a heron in his talons, upon which he is bestowing the coup de ing seas. " More of Mr. Turner's chalky seas," said a connois- grace. The birds are struggling in mid air, close to the eye of the spec-

nen!, poking his nose into the Scheldt: he might as well have been tator; the falcon, poised on his outspread wings, and the animation, sand-blind for any thing that he could have seen of the effect of the the flutter, the movement of the group, which is beautiful as a comp*.

picture at that nearness. ..We are indeed bound to say, that TURNER'S tion and painted to the very life, is wonderfully true to nature. This seas, this year, .are not lucid enough ; they are rather blanhetty. But is a work of genius„and shows how animals ought to be 'represented, then how airya..nd tender his distances! how perfect the keeping! how • instead of their being painted dead and hung up in a larder. pure. the colouring! Here is "Staffs and Fingal's Cave" (453), ' (To be continued.) whose basaltic columns are screened by a mist of foam and spray. The steam-boat in this picture is invested with poetic effect. It is impos-

sible that any one can look upon these extraordinary pictures but as the works of a man of genius, and one who has studied nature in all her aspects with the eye and knowledge of a painter and the mind of a poet. We must be content with giving the numbers of the rest, for we have already expatiated at too great length. 153, 206, and 2E4 : —these are cool grey pictures, as " Italy " was glowing with sun-light. Here is one fierce as the fiery furnace it represents (355), " Nebuchad- nezzar calling to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to conic forth :" its glare is scorching ; we hope the Academy is insured—or perhaps the picture is painted on canvas of asbestos.

CAILCOTT has some beautiful landscapes : S and 61 are somewhat aguish in tone ; 86, a mountain scene, has a fine transient effect of light ; 141, " A Cross Road," is perfectly delicious ; and 187, " An English Water Mill," is the very muh of nature, and is painted in a broad, pure, and simple style. 332, 1‘ Italian Girls going in Procession to their first Cominunion," was painted, says the artist, "iu consequence of seeing it single sun-beam fill on the high altar at the moment of the ceremony;" and one might almost fancy it was struck off in the same moment, so real, so true, so beautiful is it. May Mr. Catteurr see many more such effects, and paint them all as well. STAN FIELD has only a single picture, but that is a splendid one—" The Opening of the New London Bridge," (313). This is the picture for which the King gave a commission to the artist, to the chagrin of the Royal Academy. The view is taken from the River, showing the City half of the bridge ; the King's barge is approaching the stairs ; the rest are lying by to allow the royal party to land. The groups of craft, with their gay colours and the crowds of spectators, arc happily intro- duced to aid the pictorial effect ; which is managed in a masterly man- ner, and so as to be subservient to the truth of the actual scene. Sir JOHN SO.NE, wishing to console the expectant Academician for the loss of the royal commission, liberally gave one himself to Mr. JONES (not him of the Bridge Committee), and here it is, (180). The view is taken on the bridge, looking along it towards the pavilion, from which the royal party is approaching ; which we can hardly see for the flags that flutter in all directions. The bridge is the least part of the picture, and the company is secondary to the bunting. STANFIELD'S picture, by the way, is slightly painted—in seine parts too slightly ; mind Le makes the bridge look like painted wood—it is any thing but granite. Mr. CONSTABLE (to revenge his disappointment, we suppose) has painted "The Opening of Waterloo Bridge, from Whitehall Stairs" (09); and it is a picture of great merit in parts, especially the distance; but some one has entirely spoiled the effect by sprinkling it all over with white paint, which has been smeared about to the utter ruin of the picture: flia.ToN has another of his poetical pictures from SPENSER, " Una seeking shelter in the cottage of Corecca" (77). The Lion has just broken down the wicket over which he and Una wilk into the hut, where the hag and her daughter sit cowering with fear. The old wo- man's face is vigorous and characteristic : Una looks like a flower, gentle and innocent ; though she is not all that we look for in the beautiful heroine of SPENSER. It is a fine picture, painted in an unostentatious and excellent style. How:stuns " Oberon and Titania" (159) is like most oilier of his productions of this class; but in his " Medea medi- tating the Murder of her Children" (68), there is fine and powerful ex- pression : the stiffened horror of her pallid face and mouth, which seems dragged open with the convulsive throe that gives birth to her Horrid intent ; her attitude, half turned from the innocent victims, and shrinking, as it were, from herself' with guilty fear, while she stealthily turns her head towards them; her dark eyes glancing wildly from under their heavy lids,—all is conceived in the spirit of the subject. This is true poetical painting. With the exception of a group of portraits (of whirl' in its place), Lasisn has only one small picture; a scene from