ART.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
(SECOND NOTICE.) WE shall in this notice proceed to mention the most striking of the Figure-subjects exhibited this year, leaving all men- tion of the Landscapes to a later date. The picture that first strikes our notice is No. 46, "A Lincolnshire Gang," by R. W. Macbeth, the only one he exhibits this year. It is a long picture, of many figures, chiefly women and children, and would have been more appropriate some years ago, before the restrictions were imposed upon the agricultural labour of children. In the centre of the picture are grouped the young labourers, with their parents, the little ones quite tired out with their long day's work, and clinging close to their mothers' sides. On the right- hand side, a man is holding a pair of greyhounds in a leash, while he turns round to look at one of the children, who is lying on the straw in the cow-shed, sick and ill with fatigue. The picture should be pathetic, for it is well painted with that intention by one of our more thoughtful artists, but it fails to tell its story plainly, and the relation of the various groups to the main interest of the composition is not very apparent. It is, at all events, an effort in the right direction, and recalls much of Frederick Walker's style, though wanting his delicate feeling. No. 10, "The Re- hearsal," by Eyre Crowe. The scene of this picture is taken from Aristophanes' comedy of "The Birds," and represents the actors rehearsing, in the quaint dresses and masks used in that play. It
is that part of the play where the two Athenians who have intruded upon the Bird kingdom are mistaken for spies, and threatened with death. Though not deficient in force, it is somewhat lard and staring in colour. More suitable in every way to the painter's talent is No. 146, "Darning-day at the Red Maids' School, Bristol," a long line of children seated on a stone bench in front of the school-building, darning, some of them already yawning wearily over their work. The composition is clever, and the attitudes of the girls cleverly varied, while the red dresses and grey stone walla harmonise well. In the first room also is Marcus Stone's "Rejected," No. 42, likely to be one of the most popular of his works. The story is told plainly and well, and shows his usual strong painting and careful study. The moment chosen to illustrate is just after the refusal has been spoken, and the rejected fox-hunter is leaving the room, with heavy step and -downcast head. So far the picture is an ordinary one enough, but it is in the face of the girl that the artist has been so succesa- lul. There, pity, doubt, and perhaps a little remorse, are all depicted, and the hand unconsciously clenched hard upon the win- dow-curtain is a significant sign of the tumult within,—altogether, a fine picture, and one that would not have disgraced the Aca- alemic ranks, were the painter, as some think he should be, one of the Elect. The larger picture by the same, No. 1,326, is not Aanite so satisfactory. It is called "An Appeal for Mercy," and is an incident of the Reign of Terror, probably during the pre- sidency of Robespierre, for whom the stern figure looking down -at an open letter is perhaps intended. A wife has come to plead .for her husband's release, or a sister, perhaps, for her brother's life, and has thrown herself on her knees before the President's chair, and is looking up in his face to discern the slightest .sign of relenting. The sullen prison attendant, in the "bonnet rouge" of Liberty, sits scowling by the table. Small sympathy has he with the aristocrats.
A favourite with many will be No. 45, a rosy little English girl, looking rather wistfully at an apple in her lap, and entitled "Forbidden Fruit ;" but for ourselves, we cannot admire Mr. llillais's later portraits of children as much as those of earlier times. They are neither so delicate nor so true, and the increase of force ill compensates for a certain smudginess of treatment, and a general appearance of haste and carelessness. The colour, however, is always pleasing, and this is perhaps seen to tW best advantage in No. 248, "Mrs. Sebastian Schlesinger," whose rose- leaf complexion and dark violet dress have evidently been con- genial subjects, and ones in which the artist has been far more successful than in the portrait of Lord Lytton (No. 249), which is as unattractive a likeness of a handsome man as any one could desire to see. There will probably be no more favourite picture in the Academy than "The Charge of Balaclava," by Phili- potteaux. Criticism is at fault in speaking of a picture like this, for it is almost impossible to look at it without entering into the spirit of the scene, and feeling the " gaudia certaminis" in real earnest. Never, as far as we can remember, upon the walls of the Academy has there been such a masterly rendering of an English battle. There is another picture on the same subject by T. Barker, in the first room, and any one who will take the trouble to compare the two will discover the difference between painted and acted war. From the Balaclava Charge to one of Mr. Prinsep's most drawing-roomy pictures is a change, _total, at all events, if not agreeable. We have got into the region of musk and civet, and laced handkerchiefs. No. 31, "A Bientlit„" will certainly shock no one's feelings ; such a nicely- dressed couple as this would, we should imagine, meet without .emotion, and part without regret, the lady going upstairs, perhaps, to remove an objectionable pin, and the gentleman to pull down his ruffles, and adjust his collar. From high to low life is an easy transition with Mr. Pripsep, and he has this year, as he had last, his principal picture devoted to showing the more graceful and poetical side of ordinary English life amongst the lower classes. No. 241, "The Linen-gatherers," might hang in a gallery as a companion to "The Gleaners" of last year, though it is far inferior. There is the same style of figure and compo- sition, and much the same kind of unnatural green down behind them. The women carrying the linen are hardly so pleasing or natural as last year, and sheets do not look as well in a picture as wheat-sheaves. The faces are, we think, too refined and dreamy to be truthful to nature ; as a rule, the English washerwoman is a very unpoetical sort of personage, and has her thoughts sternly fixed on missing collars and the weekly accounts. One of the most attractive pictures in this first room, and as good of its kind as anything in the Exhibition, is No. 25, "The Rivals," by C. E. Perugini, two French peasants meeting in a field of ripe wheat, which forms a background of ruddy gold for the figures. Bitter rivals evidently are these two, the dark and fair ; the first with arms thrust upon her hips, with a careless smile upon her lips, and a half-opened rose in her mouth ; the second, heavy-laden, with pitcher and basket of vegetables, passes on her way with downcast eyes. Many interpretations will probably be put upon this picture, but the contrast between the insolent defiance of the one face, and the sweet, innocent beauty of the other, leave little doubt as to which will be finally successfuL Mr. Perugini has another picture, No. 558, "Choosing a Nosegay ;" a young lady in agarden, with gloves and scissors, gathering her favourite flowers. There is little more to detain us in the first room amongst the figure subjects, except a small portrait of "Master Graham Pettit," in a costume of the seventeenth century, by G. H. Boughton ; of which we can only say that, if the young gentleman looks as scared and uncomfortable in his ordinary costume as he does here, he is greatly to be pitied. Indeed, this custom of painting portraits of living people in old-fashioned dresses is an absurd one, and should be given up. A man is no more himself out of his ordinary clothes than he is when he is out of his mind, and in nine cases out of ten he cannot help showing it in the picture. Mr. Boughton has another picture this year (No. 562), "A Surrey Pastoral." This representa an idyllic shepherd, handing an equally amateur shepherdess over an almost imper- ceptible, brook. The landscape behind of small trees and grasses is, even for Mr. Boughton, spotty and mystified. It is-a pity that a clever painter should become so utterly unreal and affected as this picture betokens. It is difficult to imagine pictures of this class giving satisfaction to anybody, while they are utterly unreal.
In the second room, there is Mrs. E. M. Ward's large picture (No. 120) of " Newgate, 1818." It represents an incident in the life of Elizabeth Fry, when she comes to the prison for the find time, with her young friend Mary Saunderson, to visit the female prisoners. There is, as usual, plenty of dramatic force and clever grouping, and the story is well told, were it worth the telling, which is, perhaps, doubtfuL Next to this is Mr. Storey's "Dancing-Lesson," hardly justifying his recent election. In the same room there is Frith's large picture (No. 132), "Scene from Moliere's 'L'Amour Medecin." This is one of the incidents of which this artist has painted so many, from plays and stories, and differs little from former examples. The episode from "The Vicar of Wakefield" (No. 250), where the squire is teaching the two child- ren to box, is one more illustration of a somewhat worn-out sub- ject, and little else ; while the two remaining pictures (Nos. 198 and 350) are simply "pot-boilers," and quite unworthy of the artist. Close to this is a most humorous picture by J. E. Hodg- son, quite his best this year, though not so important as some of his former paintings (No. 199), "Better have a new pair," is an Oriental bringing to a street-cobbler a pair of worn-out slippers to mend, through which the cobbler is casually thrusting his finger, while he advises him to "have a new pair." Mr. Hodgson's two larger pictures, Nos. 84 and 301, one representing Nubian women bathing, the other, ploughing in Morocco, are less interesting, though the storks in the latter are cleverly introduced. Near this is No. 208, "Flotsam and Jetsam," by W. Q. Orchard- son. We have almost given up expecting anything from Mr. Orchardson beyond harmonies in yellowish-brown, and a cer- tain amount of freedom in composition and execution. The ragged damsel in this picture is apparently going the wrong way to get anything out of the water, but the attitude does well enough for pictorial purposes. Mr. Orchardson has two other pictures, besides a portrait, of which we need say nothing ; given any subject, we know the treatment will always be a half-empty canvas, a more or less ragged figure in brown or grey. No. 182, "The Holy Mother," by F. Goodall. This is a fine, thoughtful picture, very similar in style to those Mr. Goodall painted some years since, which were such favourites with the public. Ma Virgin is seated, with the infant Saviour on her knees. The drapery, of a subdued blue, is broadly and powerfully treated, and the calm, sweet expression of the mother's face very beautiful. Of the large landscapes by this artist we must speak another time. No. 156, "The Apothecary," H. S. Marks. This is somewhat similar to "The Bookworm" and "The Orni- thologist," exhibited some years since. It hardly gives the idea of the extreme want we are accustomed to associate with the one mentioned in "Romeo and Juliet ;" indeed, this looks more like a well-to-do, experimental chemist, with a taste for stuffed reptiles, and a rather miscellaneous collection of bones. The painting, however, is firm and good, and all the accessories most carefuL The smaller picture of "Journey's End in Lovers? Meeting" is a clever, small picture, the landscape of which. is
very delicately painted, though the figures are somewhat conven- tionaL "Selecting Pictures for the Royal Academy," C. W. Cape, gives portraits of the President and the Hanging Com- mittee. It is an unpleasant subject, more or less successfully treated. 162, "Richard IL resigning the Crown to Bolingbroke," Sir John Gilbert. This is, as usual with Gilbert, very strong and rich in colour, and is conceived in the poetical manner more than the historical. The same remark applies to the smaller picture of "The Crusaders," which is a dashing group of a hand-to-hand conflict with the Saracens, in which the Saracens are decidedly getting the worst of it. 169, "My Duty towards my Neighbour," one of Mr. Leslie's graceful groups of English girls, hardly so interesting as usual. Of the three portraits by Watts, by far the most important and the most striking is that of the Bishop of Ely, which is quite first-rate in its quiet simplicity. The " Cordelia," by Herbert, is hard and unpleasing in colour, the bright blue pink and bottle-green robes in particular. In the large gallery, also, there is a clever subject-picture by Yearnes. No. 233, "The Last Bit of Scandal," a lady and gentleman, in the costume of the last century, being carried home in the early morning from a ball, stopping their sedan-chairs to indulge in the latest gossip. The bearers are yawning, the early milk-woman is going her round, but on the two powdered faces there is no weariness, and the piece of scandal is evidently a very piquant one, and will be all over the town to-morrow.
Perhaps one of the most attractive pictures here is No. 249, "Au Audience at Agrippa's," by Alma Tadema. Though the smallest picture that he exhibits this year, this is a very notable work, no less from the masterly drawing and rendering of the different textures, than from the wonderful contrast in light between the outside hall and the cool, marble audience-seat, towards which Agrippa, in his red robes, is passing down the steep steps of the palace. One of the most humorous pictures here is "The Sailor's Wedding," by P. R. Morris, his most important work. It is after the wedding, and the whole party—bride, bride- groom, bridesmaids, and all—are taking a walk along the beach. There is a tremendous " go " about the composition, and if the whole company get their wedding-clothes spoilt, as undoubtedly they will, in the meantime they are evidently enjoying themselves to the full. Mr. Riviere sends two pictures this year, by far the best being No. 313, "A Stern Chase is always a Long Chase." In this instance, pursuers and pursued are all ducks; and the object of the pursuit is an unfortunate frog, who is held in suspense in the bill of the foremost. No. 496, the more ambitious subject of "Pallas Athene and the Herdsman's Dogs," is not one we can congratulate Mr. Riviere upon, and the figure has none of the majesty described in the poem. No. 381, "The Relief of Leyden," A. Gow. This is the entrance of a boat laden with provisions into the beleaguered town of Leyden, and represents the mad tumult of the populace with vivid strength. Indeed, this is one of the best pictures that Mr. Gow has painted, and promises great things for the future. The advance on his last year's picture of " Sophy Badderly " is very noticeable. No. 412, Hubert Herkomer, "At Death's Door," a scene in the Bavarian Alps, the peasants awaiting the arrival of the priest, with the Host, who is seen coming up the hill ; through the small window is seen the sick-room ; in every way inferior to this painter's picture of last year, and showing little of the grave simplicity and unfeigned pathos of "The Last Muster." No. 476, Luke Endes, "The Widower." Mr. Fildes is always most at home in the graver aspects of life, and this picture, though very inferior to "The Casuals," is a pathetic one. The widower is clasping one of his sick children in his arms, while the others play on the floor unheeding ; the eldest one alone, a girl, leans sadly against the wall, half comprehending and sympathising with her father's grief. It is one of those appeals to over-strained feeling, and to more or less morbid sentiment, which are sometimes so popular. Of the same sort are the pictures which Mr. Rolls produces year after year, which vacillate between a death-bed and a funeral, and must be most cheerful subjects for their fortunate possessors.
We have only space to mention in conclusion the portrait by R. Herdman, of Thomas Carlyle, which, taking it altogether, is not only the most interesting portrait in the Exhibition, but also the best.
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