FINE ARTS.

ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION.

:No exhibition of the Royal Academy within our memory has possessed less interest or produced a feebler impression than the present : it has ',but few salient points, and those not of the most striking character.

This may be accounted for in part by the circumstance of tie Fresco competition having directed the energies of artists into a new and nobler Channel; though, as usual, the young men, who arc most likely to have been engaged in designing cartoons, have made the greatest efforts.

On entering the first or West Room, the eye is attracted to an im- mense canvass, in three compartments, extending nearly from wall to wall, peopled with whole-length figures of life-size, painted in the brightest colours and almost without shade : Italy, (562,) is the title of this bold and clever production of W. D. KENNEDY, a rising painter, anhbitions and of some promise, but whose notions of art are as crude

-as his style. It represents groups of Italian peasants enjoying the sun- ,alsine-which has the peculiar property ofneutralizing shade : the daneers

are not only without motion but without substance, being shadowless. This room contains the most original and impressive picture of the -whole exhibition ; one full of thought and invention, though the subject is not only painful but positively disgusting-Solomon Eagle Exhorting the People to Repentance during the Plague of the Year 1665, (423,) by P. F. POOLE. The fanatic is represented as described by DE FOE, nearly naked, with a pan of charcoal on his bead, standing in the centre of a group of the dying, the dead, and the despairing, uttering his de- nunciations : this strange figure is made more striking by the contiguity -ofanother clad in a black domino, who has stopped to listen to his 'ravings. The details are too revolting for description, and, we may add to be depicted ; for what moral purpose can be served by represent- ing, a shocking spectacle of human suffering, wretchedness, and folly ? The ghastly incidents of that frightful visitation are set forth with hor- rible vividness: some touches of tenderness and pathos relieve the scene of misery, but we turn away with loathing.

Passing on to the great or East Room, another large canvass arrests the attention-Dante, accompanied by Virgil in his Descent to the Inferno, Recognizes his Three Countrymen, (67,) by G. Parms. The general effect of the picture is imposing, but beyond this there is nothing to admire: the figures are characterless and inexpressive. There is a paucity of-designs on the line of sight : LESLIE'S Coronation Sacrament, (74,)worthily fills a central place, though it had been before publicly exhibited at Mr. MOON'S, by gas-light : seen by daylight, the colouring is crude, but the treatment of the subject is refined, and the execution consummately skilful. LESLIE has also two original designs : one is the 'Scene from the Vicar of Wakefield, (164,) where Lady Blarney and Miss Wilhelmina 'Skeggs confound the simple-minded Vicar and his family ; an inimitable conception in the spirit of the tale. The inci- dent is depicted with the seeming truth and animation of reality : one fancies the artist must have been present at the scene, and that all the persons sat to him for their portraits, so lifelike and individual are the characters. The Vicar's glance of vexation at Mr. Burebell, who has turned his back on the stylish visiters-the embarrassment of Mrs. Primrose-and the wonderment of the rustic circle, whose blooming health and innocence and homely attire contrast so strongly with the paint, patches, and finery of the old harridan and her companion-tell the story perfectly. The other is the Scene from Moliere, (416,) where La Makde Imaginaire is abandoned by his physician ; the humour of which is equally genuine. 'EASTLAKE exhibits only one small picture, Hagar and Ishmael, (108,) admirable for purity of sentiment and delicate execution : Hagar does not convey the idea of a bondwoman of patriarchal times, but her look of subdued anguish and the expression of the famishing boy are por- trayed with exquisite tenderness and grace. Errr has two or three studies of the female form; of which, The Bather, (44,) is the most pleasing picture, and the best imitation of flesh: The Graces, (30,) are anything but ideal-they are merely a triad of ordinary nuclides : and The Entombment of Christ, (79,) is a sketch anything but felicitous in composition. IlLicusx has one picture, not of such large dimensions as usual, but quite as exaggerated in character and vicious in style : it is a scene from Gf1 Bias-The Actor's Reception of the Author (137)-caricatured ; the persons resemble puppets made of tin newly painted and varnished.. HERBERT manifests great improvement in his style of painting, together with simplicity of conception and earnestness of feeling, in his Christ and the Woman of Samaria, (339); though he has not succeeded in, his attempt: Christ is deficient in personal dignity, elevation. of character, and depth of sentiment ; and the woman's look and gesture are eapressive rather of compassionate wonder than reverential awe. ItEnneavu has three designs of 'domestic subjects, painted with the

utmost elaboration and force : The Fortune-Hunter, (397,) a false lover paying his devoirs to a rich beauty in the hearing of the poor girl whom he has forsaken and who is sitting behind a screen, is too theatrical to be pathetic ; and Going to Service, (468,) a damsel leaving home to go to town by the waggon, is too commonplace to be affecting: The Poor Teacher, (553,) an orphan girl brocding over her sorrows in the deserted school-room, is touching, though the theme is trite. HAYDON has given his notion of The Heroine of Saragossa, (579,)- which answers to ours of the heroine of a Surrey melodrama in that character striking the attitude for a tableau: the defenders are in the act of charging an enemy close at hand, while the heroine is about. to fire a cannot:vat a distant foe. J. P. KNIGHT also has been following in the wake of WILKIE ; representing John Knox Endeavouring to Restrain the Violence of the People, who, excited by his Eloquence, Destroyed the Altar, Sc. at Perth, 1559, (306): the demolishers display so very little enthusiasm in their work, that a less influential interposition would have stopped their mechanical proceedings. DUNCAN'S ad- mirable picture of Prince Charles Edward Asleep in one of his Hiding- places after the Battle of Culloden, (263,) which we described a few weeks back, appears to great advantage ; it is one of the most attractive features of the exhibition. Sir WILLIAM ALLAN has been very success- ful in representing the movements and positions of the two hostile armies at Waterloo, 18th June 1815, Half-past Seven o'clock p. m., (287,) the moment when on the failure of Napoleon's last desperate effort Wellington ordered the whole British line to advance : the view Is taken from the French position ; Napoleon with his Stiff consequently occupies the foreground, the Duke of Wellington being just dis- cernible through the smoke in the distance. The painter has hit the right medium between extreme minuteness and vague generalization ; and the effect of the picture as a whole is such as to convey an idea not only of a battle but of this particular one at the precise point of time

There are two scenes of monastic life, one imaginary and the other real, that strikingly exemplify the difference between the effect of fadt and of fiction in painting: the fanciful idea is CHARLES LANDSEER'S of the enjoyments of the Monks of Melrose, (376,) who are angling and cooking their fish, with accompaniments of more substantial fare : the actual scene is Dinner-time in the Refectory of a Franciscan Convent at Florence, (232,) by S. A. HART ; and a vivid piece of reality it is as ever was pictured-the white walls and green curtains make the light of day seem cold; while the perspective of bald crowns and soap- basins, of snowy napkins and frowsy garments, pale faces and ruby decanters, suggest curious reflections. The distinctness and force of this painting prove that Mr. HART is more at home in the real than-the ideal.

EDWIN LANDSEER contributes only to the department of portraiture, which this year falls lower than ever : his Portrait qf the Honourable Ashley Ponsonby, (100,) a boy on a pony, with dogs and dead rabbits, is one of his least striking works ; and his two Horses, (314,) their heads instinct with life, add little to his reputation : they furnish a standard, however, by which to estimate the feebleness of A. COOPER'S horses and the exaggeration of WARD'S bulls, horses, and dogs, which fill the best places on the line. Superannuated Academicians are privileged to parade their incapacity in ,the. most conspicuous manner, moving the many to mirth and the few to pity, and proclaiming the gross injustice of the Academy in the arrangement of the exhibition.

Sir Manna •SHEE'S whole-length Portrait of the Queen in her. Robes, (136,) is not a recognizable likeness; it gives one the idea of a waiting- maid aping the airs of royalty. Gainx s whole-length of the Queen, (15,) is graceful, but feeble, and not characteristic in figure: his whole- length of Lord Wharneliffe, (211,) is en admirable likeness and a olever picture ; though his style best suits works of smaller size. BRIGGS ,{tax no grand portrait : the best head by him is that of The late Sir :Tam Jacob Buxton, (465,) which has the identity of life. Viscount Eastnor, (185,) is P/CKERSGILL'S best ; and Mr. Sharman Crawford, (507,) the most striking head by KNIGHT. PHILLIPS is not equal to his former self. But two of the finest portraits are Lord Plunkett, by RoTawiti.n, (556,)-a living head, every lineament full of character ; and Colonel Gawler, (176,) by S. LAURENCE, which has something of the force and rich tone of colour of the old masters. The ladies fare very badly : A Peasant-Girl, (31,) with bare feet, by Ennis, is worth them all ;. except a head called Jessica, (300,) by W. DYCE, whose only fault is hardness.

The landscape-painters appear to great advantage this year: though Caft.hcorr is missed, and there are but half-a-dozen besides whose works attract notice. TURNER is more splendid, and we are happyto say more intelligible, than usual: his great picture, The Opening of the Walhalla, 1842, (14,) is a superb landscape composition, in which the \Valhalla, in the shape of a Greek temple, is seen crowning a woody height on the Danube : the river pours through a magnificent bridge its not " dark-rolling" flood, for the whole scene is steeped in the brightest sunlight : the group of figures and emblems, painted golden red and relieved from a white foreground, is one of those licences of art which TURNER exercises to give effect to his pictures. His.views of Venice, (129, 144, and 554,) are beaming with sunlight and gorgeous colour, and full of atmosphere ; though, as usual, all forms and local hues are lost in the blaze of effect. To maintain his reputation for eccentricity, he has sent two riddles that none but himself can read: one is entitled Shade and Darkness-the Evening of the Deluge, (363,) in which, with this clue, we are just able to discern the tribe of ..beasts going to the ark : the other is an inexplicable mystery, Light and Colour, (Goethe's Theory)-the Morning after the Deluge-Moses Writing the Book of Genesis, (385.) As an illustration of GOETHE's Theory of Light and Colour it is intelligible ; the gigantic figure perched up in the clouds may be meant for Moses writing the Genesis, and the ser- pent in the centre may typify the deluge: but further we cannot follow the painter. There may be some sublime meaning in all this, as we are told there is ; but we must confess our inability to penetrate its pro- fundity : we see in these two octagon-shaped daubs only two brilliant problems-chromatic harmonies of cool and warm colours.

In striking contrast with the luminous obscurity of TURNER iS the daylight clearness of STANFIELD, whom we are glad to see emulating himself in his best day : his two Views in Venice, (281 and293,) are hard and cold ; but his marine view, Mazorbo and 7'orcello, Gulf of Venice, (37,) is the perfection of his style, and a most carefully finished pic- ture :.the stillness of the scene is undisturbed by a breath of air, and the

very reflections in the calm sea are motionless. In his view of The Castle of Ischia, (192,) the ripple of the wave in the foreground is a beautiful bit of nature : but the View on the Medway, (409,) with the huge bulls of men-of-war, is the scene where STANFIELD seems most at home. CHESWICK'S verdurous scenes, with sunlight dappling the green shade, are charming despite their heaviness : The Terrace, Haddon, 0530; A Welsh Glen, (249.) the rocky bed of a mountain-stream ; and Evening, (412,) are Lot mere imitations of natural scenes : the re- pose of solitude pervades them all, and those feelings are awakened that Nature herself excites.

COLLINS, among other Italian scenes, has one in which the effect of A SultryDay-Naples, (217,) is vividly represented : the almost vertical sun sheds its rays through a cloud, though scarcely with the fervid heat of a Southern clime, and the reflection on the sea is cold in its brightness. LEE'S landscapes exhibit an improvement upon those of last year, though they are still unsatisfactory, and too much alike-as if done by recipe. ROBERTS'S Egyptian views do not make pictures equal to his sketches. The Last Moment of Sunset, (342,) by DANBY, is a solemn landscape scene with a mellow twilight effect ; but the shade is too cold and the paintaing smooth and opaque. An Alpine scene, Pont d'Ai, Vol d'Aoste, (539,) by J. D. Hartnnic, shows the artist to possess equal power over the materials of oil-painting to what he exerts in water- colours : it is stuck up in a corner so high as to be scarcely visible, and crushed by a huge flaring canvass, yet its extraordinary merits are dis- cernible; and the effect of vastness, altitude, and distance in the aerial spective of mountains is impressive even under such disadvantages.

The display of Sculpture appears to be of a very inferior kind, judging from a first glance ; but we have not space this week to enter upon its merits, which upon a more careful examination may prove to be greater than we suppose. Neither do the Miniatures and Architec- tural designs give promise of any thing very extraordinary at a cursory view. The pictures in that dark hole the Octagon room are invisible : it ought not to be used as a place of exhibition, for few persons enter it; and those who do can see nothing but the gloss of paint on the pictures.