A R, T.
THE WATER-COLOUR SOCIETIES. [SECOND NOTICE.] AIR. ALFRED HUNT'S picture, already shortly alluded to, called. "A Land of Smouldering Fire" (70), is a view of Naples, with Vesuvius across the bay. An old subject, it will perhaps be thought, till it is remembered that the novelty of a subject lies not
in its topographical peculiarities, but in the artist's treatment of them. The sunny aspect of the "Elysian city" is doubtless old ;. but this is not the one which presented itself to Mr. Hunt. In his idea, the mountain dominates all. Its slumbering fires, sufficiently indicated by a thin vapour that clings about its crest, seem to threaten all with a fate inevitable, though deferred. Heavy clouds. fleckedwith dim red add a gloom of their own to the twilight, and mock the ineffectual glimmer of lamp and lighthouse. A white- cowled monk, solitary remembrancer of earthly uncertainty, looks out like a sentinel from a blank and lofty wall that runs downwards. from the uppe- r heights of the town. This is certainly a lame. attempt to describe the drawing. But, by way of excuse, it may be said that where the painter's art has been most potent, verbal description must always be ii3adequate. And as this is a picture depending entirely on its poetical treatment, the final sen- tence must undoubtedly be contained in an exhortation to- go and see it. Mr. Hunt has also another twilight drawing called "A Welsh Hollow" (207), very true in its effect of crimson- tinged rain-cloud reflected on the wet rocks that elsewhere gleans faint and grey in the valley ; and an effect of "Sunlight through. Rain" (60), which is, perhaps, a trifle too red. The very opposite of Mr. Hunt (who revels in every variety of landscape and every mood of nature, and loves to deal with vast spaces and distant. vistas) is Mr. Boyce, who seems to like nothing but quiet nooks. shut in by barriers through which the eye cannot wander to the. world beyond. Only in one of his drawings does he depart from. this rule, "The Thames at Little Wittenham " (200), and then without success. Can it be that with all his fine perception of tone he has too much neglected the study of chiaroscuro, without. which it is vain to expect successful treatment of complex subjects and great distances? This would account for his constantly choosing subjects without any distance at all,—which are, in fact, only fragments of pictures, and by repeating which he runs the. risk of falling into an undesirable mannerism. Meanwhile, he has. given us a charming bit of quiet sunshine in his " Dorchester— Oxfordshire " (226), together with some slight evidence of a wish to dispose figures and other objects in such a way as to consult our human infirmities and produce a graceful effect.
Mr. Davidson is reaping the fruit of honest and unremitting.
study of nature. There is increased firmness as well as flexibility in his drawing, greater purity and harmony in his colour, and altogether more ease in his execution. "Early Spring" (1.11)„ in which the woods are represented in their first blush of gold and green, before the tender grey of stem and branch are yet hidden. by foliage, is altogether a most pleasant picture. " Knole Park— Autumn" (74) is also good, but the symptoms of labour about the. foliage are a little too obvious. Mr. S. Evans exhibits signs of zealous attention to his art in his " Hallstadt " (108), which is. treated with greater breadth, and contains better qualities of colour than anything previously exhibited by him. Mr. A. Glennie's drawings are, as usual, remarkable for bright and har- monious colour ; and though he has been more strongly repre- sented, his "View at Fiume in Istria" (136) is a charming picture. Mr. Newton's "On the Road" (35), wherein may be recognized the mountains at the head of Glencoe, contains a very good effect of watery sunshine and silvery showers. The interest. of Mr. S. Palmer's "The Fall of Empire" (161) is altogether human. The huge monument of former times which has outlived. its builders cannot be looked upon but with awe by a people separated from them by so many ages. Mr. Birkett Foster retains the prettiness of arrangement by which he first won popularity as a book illustrator, but makes no advance towards any kind a position as a colourist; while his doctrine concerning light and. shade is of that compendious description which accepts black for shade and white for light.
Often as the sea has supplied artists with a subject, it is seldom that an attempt is made to represent any but its simplest pheno- mena. That, like other water, it is transparent is acknowledged. That the wind will drive it up in fluid heaps or waves is a fact not neglected, and by none among modern artists less than by the Dane; of whom Sorensen and Melby deserve particular recogni- tion. And herein it is to be understood that the fluidity and mobility of waves are qualities to be specially remembered ; for without them an artist were no more than a photographer, who, if he expresses the form of the waves correctly, makes them only the more hateful because of their brazen immobility.. But the complex and intricate network of cross-ripples, which is wrought by the wind on wave-surfaces, appears to attract the attention of no living artist except Mr. F. Powell. And let it not be hastily concluded that these are matters of petty detail. On the contrary, they serve to express, what nothing else expresses so well, the un- ceasing worry and teasing kept up by strong raking winds. Waves will dance merrily enough under a light air, and will continue to toss after a gale has spent its fury. But if the exhilaration of a freshening breeze or the fear of a continuing and waxing storm is the impression sought to be produced, then those multitudinous interlacings will be found very potent auxiliaries, with the curling and crested waves and steaming yeast, towards ex- pressing the painter's meaning. Such at least are some of the uses to which they may be put. And accordingly, Mr. Powell, who gives them great but not undue prominence in his sea-pictures, manages to infuse into his work an animation and a stir not generally found in works of the same class. He expresses a more lively truth because he brings together a greater number of the essential characteristics of water. Moreover, he is a practical seaman, and his boats are all correctly drawn, rigged, and handled. "Arran, from Inchmarnoch Waters" (98), is a remarkably good example of his art. Here every wave breaks into foam under a fresh wind, and sparkles in the sun, towards which the eye is directed. The neutral colours of the water under the strong light, except where the thin edge of a wave shines with translucent green, is very true, and harmonizes beautifully with the warm light of the sky. Nor will the lively movement of the fishing-boats, one mounting athwart a wave, the other dipping boltsprit under, be overlooked. "Herring-Boats running before the Morning Breeze" (13) is a scarcely less excellent picture. Its sky is very admirable. Mr. Powell's third picture, "Loch Goil " (30), shows that it is unnecessary to go far away from Greenock for the best of Highland scenery, but the tints of the foreground rocks hardly do justice to the noble black colour of the shore, to which the yellow seaweed is so glorious an accom- paniment.
The six new Associates are all known more or less by their works heretofore exhibited at the Dudley Gallery. Mr. H. S. Marks no doubt owes his election to the picture now hanging in that gallery, and adds nothing on the present occasion. Mr. Hall shows very marked improvement on his previous work. "On the Coast of Somerset" (227) is a very complete little picture. Tufted grass and rocky spit, distant headland and level sea are bathed in the golden sunshine of late afternoon ; a delightful calm prevades the whole. The colour is very varied and good in quality, and great space is expressed with apparent ease. The merits of two other drawings by the same artist (64, 68,) are of an equally solid kind ; while all have such goodtaste and refinement as give excellent promise for the future. Mr. A. Goodwin is notably a colourist. But whereas he formerly aimed chiefly at force, he now rather seeks tenderness. Throughout he has been deficient in ex- pression of form, and to this his attention ought to be directed. That he is not perfect in putting a picture together, or in knowing what to insist on and what to sacrifice, is of less importance for a young artist. There is beauty of a rare kind in his" Sunset—Coast of North Devon" (43), and in the misty sky and sea of "The Castle Rock, Linton" (219) ; and much may be expected from his fine perception of colour, if it be well guided. Mr. J. W. North sends four drawings of which "A Lowland Meadow" (89) is so pleasant in tone that it may be supposed that the sheer ugliness and coarseness of "The Timber Waggon" (158) and the feebleness of "The Village" (164) are accidental. Certainly he has often shown to better advantage at the Dudley Gallery. There is a good deal of cleverness in Mr. Macbeth's so-called " Gipsies " (223), but of a kind that may perhaps need chastening by severe study, lest it fall into the illustrated-newspaper vein, as in " Dadding- ston Loch" (236). There are more hopeful symptoms of the con- scientious student in Mr. Marsh (28), though hitherto he has not given much evidence of originality.
Observation on the old Society may properly be concluded with a reference to Mr. J. Gilbert's "Joan of Arc entering Orleans"
(66). He has achieved a great success in the expression of the Maid herself, who seems to be awed by her own triumph, and rather to decline the tribute of thankfulness, and honour, and worship which all press forward to give, but of which she, as the mere instrument of Heaven, deems herself unworthy. The picture is a fit companion to that of King William crossing the Boyne,. which Mr. Gilbert exhibited a few years since. Upon the whole,. great as have lately been the losses of the Society, its exhibition this year is at least of average excellence.
The noticeable pictures at the Institute are few. The circum- stance that many members show only one drawing each is to be looked upon for the most part only as an unlucky coincidence ; though, in a few instances, it is obviously due to an impression that true greatness is not (or at least speedy acquisition of for- tune) is to be won only by exhibiting at the Royal Academy. On the other hand, an Academician has contributed a drawing to the Institute which is a credit to himself and a principal ornament of the gallery. This is "Mary Magdalen crossing Golgotha to the Tomb of our Lord" (34), by Mr. Herbert. In the main it is a repetition of the picture painted and exhibited by him some years since. But it bears evidence of independent thought, while at the same time it recalls the devoutness of expression and general refinement that distinguished the original work. There is some crudeness in the colour, but the treatment is large, especially of the upper part of the body. There is a considerable list of honorary members besides Mr. Herbert, including three Acade- micians; but they are altogether sleeping-partners. The manli- ness and thoroughly unaffected nature of Mr. Hine's art was never better exemplified than by his two Southdown draw- ings, "An Old Chalk-pit near Eastbourne" (32), and "Wil- mington Holt" (164), of which the former is perhaps the nobler conception, though the latter may be more per- fectly worked out in all its parts. Mr. Hine has so often painted the Downs before that it may occur to some that he is now only repeating himself. But that is not so. There is ne shadow felt here of that inexpressible weariness which sometimes invades the spirits as one looks round our picture-exhibitions and sees nothing but what has virtually been seen a score of times before, devoid of originality, devoid of thought. These pictures of Mr. Hine's are really new, though the subject of them is, in a. sense, old. Mr. T. Collier, a lately elected Associate, is no mean acquisition. The hue of his drawings is that of the freshest day- light, and though sometimes sketchy in quality, they atone in great part for that by their entire freedom from any odour of the lamp. Mr. Penson, a shy exhibitor, contributes a well-conceived draw- ing of melancholy solitude called "A Sandpit." A forcible bit of character is supplied by Mr. Linton's "1795,—Bad News" (178); and an agreeable bit of tone by Mr. E. H. Fahey's "The New Place, Pulborough " (103). Mr. Orrocks is another new name,. and is appended to two little drawings that possess unusual nicety
of gradation and success in dealing with light and shade. V.
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