FINE ARTS.
TEE BRITISH rwesTrlsriort : NEW PICTURES.
Tstuarthe earliest of the annual art-shows, opened to the public; on Moss day. In one respect the exhibition this year is an improvement upon pees ceding ones—it is no longer the.Academy at second-hand. As we anti* pated, Prince Alberts remark last year, that he had seen many of the pic- tures before, proved more potential than the reiterated remonstrances of painters and the press; for the Directors soon after came to the very proper resolution to admit no work that had been previously exhibited. The good effects-of this determination are shown in the freshness of the display, and in the reduced proportion of rejected performances; which now amount to about half the number accepted, instead of being almost -as an- morons. We cannot say that the sum of excellence is increased, and car- taMly there is an unusual deficiency of important pictures: but this may arise from the designers being engaged in cartooning and frescoing for the Royal Commission, and not from the• partiality so grievously complained of in the "hanging" department. Since " a living dog is better than a •dead lion," Edwin Landseer's dogs claim precedence; for they are alive. A couple of King Charles's Spaniels, (1340 nestling together—their large lustrous eyes tremulous with sensibi- lity—look asif they would bark if you came too near; their sleek coats seem plump with fatness, and their long silken ears appear to have motion. This marvellous piece of painting is a lesson for those artists who mistake minuteness and smoothness for finish: the handling is bold and free, and an impression of animated reality is produced by a suggestive indication of the salient points of character. There is not a touch too much or too little, and every touch is of the right kind and pat in the proper place: the painterSi thorough knowledge of the animal endues his consummate der, terity with life-giving power. The "making-up " of the picture, too, is skilful: the pair of pets—one black, the other tan and white—are tethered by a sky-blae riband, and lie couched on a table covered with a dull red cloth, beside a drab Spanish hat and plume and a pair of gold spurs. The subdued tone and comparatively slight painting of these accessories bring out the animals in bright relief; and at once make manifest their smell size and royal celebrity. A less judicious artist might have killed the dogs bi a showy table-cover, put out their eyes with the points of the spurs, or des prived their coats of their silken texture by the gloss of the feather. Ed win Landseer has three other inimitable pictures of dogs. Decoy-mass's D6g and Ducks, (1,) is a masterly piece of still-life painting: the dead ducks, though, are more substantial than the dog, whose eyes have more life
his body. The Sussex Spaniel, (190,) with lolling tongue and up eyes, seems impatient for his master to pick up the dead pheasant at his feet; and the Retriever, (199,) with the snipe in his mouth, appears intent on his errand. The painting both of dogs and game in these two pia, tures is wonderful : and in all, the judgment of the artist is shown in limit; ing the view to near objects; the animals being represented the size of lifii, and therefore seen close.
In the class of DESIGNS, there are-very few successful attempts, and those not of a high character. The two best—we bad almost said the only good ones.—are by F. Goodall, who is perhaps the youngest exhibitor here. The Widow's Benefit...Night, (59,) is a picture studied from life, representing a dance in anirish cabin, got up for " the benefit " of the par widow, whose is the only sad face in the merry party. A barefooted lass is " setting " to one of the " boys " in a pair of cow-akin brooms whose face is flushed with hilarity; and the whisky is priming somootheis to follow his example. There is a great deal of life and character in this picture; the grouping and arrangement of which are cleverly managed. The Soldier's Dream, (197,) is a subject of &different character, suggested by Campbell's well-known poem. A Highland soldier, sleeping by the bivenac-fire, dreams of his retina home.- The story is simply and effectively told: in the grey- smoke of the wood fire is faintly figured the Highlander clasped in the arms of Ins' wife, with his children and neighbours running to welcome him home: the pale tints of the vision contrast with the lurid reflections cast by the flames on the sleeping soldier; and the moon's broad disc, seen just above the horizon, shows the Pyramids in the distance. Admirable as are the talent and skill shown in these pictures, we would nevertheless urge on the young artist to attend more to drawing,, and to avoid a tendency to opaque colourings though he paints small pictures he should make life-size studies for them. Highland Refugees on the Coast of France Looking, towards Scaland; (409,) by Mrs. Wien, is apicture that arrests attention by the expression of yearning regret in the eyes of the old Highlander; and, as the produc- tine of a lady, it is remarkable for boldness of design and good drawing. The Ballad, by F. Stone—a rustic girl, with a sunny glow in her cheeks, reclining on the grass beside a brook, reading a ballad—is a pretty pm- ture of simple beauty and innocence; and worth a score of such ambitious failures as the livid Shylock (51) of J. P. Knight, and the brazen .Rer.lid
(58) of Sir G. Hayter. Two figures of Music and Poetry, (311 and 314,) designed for frescoes, by H. O'Neil, are gracefully composed and well drawn; but the expression of the hearts is neither appropriate nor elevated. We would fain pass by in silence Mr. Haydon's group of highwaymen, in- tended to represent George the Fourth and the Duke of Wellington visiting the field of Waterloo.; but it is too conspicuously placed to be overlooked:
it is powerfully painted, but in a coarse and turgidmanner' and character is exaggerated to a ludicrous.degree. Jephtlia's Return, by W. Salter, is
another and a bigger abortion, remarkable not only for its prominent situa- tion, but as being the largest and the worst-used canvass in the gallery—it is too ridiculously weak for exhibition. Such things as this ought not to be received—they tend to bring the art as well as the artist into contempt.
Among the STUDIES of HERDS and Fromm, there are scarcely any to be much admired. Etty has two of his Academy nuditlesc Mrs. W.
Carpenter, a naked infant—more feebly painted than is her wont; F. Grant, a flimsy but elegant portrait of a gentleman in Highland costume; and Inskipp, two large pictures-of sportsmen and fishermen—glaring
specimens of the smudge style of painting. A sketch of GOsiss, (10,)
by J. Gilbert, though grouped somewhat in stage fashion, and rather warmly coloured, is full of spirit and character; and a Dance at Iranians, (27,) by W. Miler, is rich both in Mons and costume. There are - a few of the designs forth: Bermondsey altar-piece, which dispose us to acquiesce in the decision of the judges without having seen the chosen one.
Of the Latzsmearas, two of the most striking and novel ars by. W. Mfdler—first fruits of his Lycien expedition—Rhodes; (140,) and'"Thinfres1 Telmessits,(498). They, are-graceful compositions, and full of atMOlphirf; and probably correct in regard to form; but local character is not stamped upon them,-perhaps because the white and meally painting is fatal to dis- crimination of colour and texture, producing a snowy coldness instead of the glow of sunlight that should pervade the scene. Milller's finished pictures rarely realize the promise of his sketches. A Wood Scene, (54,) by J. Linnell, embrowned with autumnal tints, and remarkable for sober depth of tone, presents a striking contrast to all other landscapes: the colouring is heavy, and the handling over-elaborate, and there is a defi- ciency of atmosphere; yet there is much truth of effect as well as of detail in it, and its solidity and mellowness are preferable to the crude, cold, greenness, and hard, thin superficiality of the mass of landscapes. F. R. Lee is the leader of this manner. He has another Avenue, (146,) and a Shady Lane, (202,) in which he emulates the dappling lights and shadows of Creswick: but the very sun-gleams have an ungenial brightness,. end the shade is not merely cool, it is positively cold. The want of mass and yield- ing texture in Lee's foliage is visible in the efforts of all the rising land- scape-painters-H. Jutsum, H. J. Boddington, T. J. Soper, Sidney Percy, A. W. Williams, and others; each of whom contributes a pretty-landscape, tastefully touched, and evincing a feeling for rustic picturesque. All repre- sent foliage as if trees had neither substance nor flexure, instead of being masses of leaves waving to the lightist breeze. They neglect to preserve the delicate gradations of tint in the verdurous hues, by which projection and distance are to be conveyed, and seem intent on acquiring a trick of hand- ling, necessary for the conventionali•epresentation of branches-and leafage. J. Bright, the water-colour painter, has a powerful picture, Water-mill, (124,) in which his hard mannerism is unpleasantly prominent: the want of day- light and atmosphere is strongly felt, and the picture looks like a crayon sketch imitated in oil. Creswick has varied his style and extended the range of his subjects this year-he has been among the Alps and in the Black Forest: but we prefer him at home in the rural quietudes hi. depicts with such delicious truth and congenial feeling; such as The Old Mill, (63,) and the Stepping-Stones, (358). The gloomy view Near Freyburg, (310,) is heavy without grandeur, and deficient in atmosphere as well as light: the handling is freer than in the artist's smaller pictures; but it wants vigour, clearness, and variety.
In /tannin subjects, Stanfield of course takes the lead; though he has a formidable rival on his billowy empire in C. Bentley, the water-colour painter; who, in common with others of his brethren, is making great efforts to excel in oil. There is power and mastery in Bentley's Dutch Boat, 4-c. of Ostend, (287): the craft are in buoyant motion on the liquid waves, and the influence of weather is visible throughout. There is more finish than usual in Stanfield's scene On the Holland, Diep, (129): the bit of beach and pier-head in the foreground, on which lolls a fisher-boy with a well-filled basket, watching the approach of a Dutch smack, is wrought with so much minuteness that it might be supposed he intended to demon- strate the doctrine that elaborate definition in near objects robs space of its atmosphere. He has certainly succeeded in doing so; and has even gone ftirther-annthilating the intervening distance between the beach and the smack, and destroying the effect of movement by the model-like distinct- ness with which each part of the vessel is made out. The distance beyond is aerial; and the waves tumble and dash about freely. E. W. Cooke makes fixtures of his craft, by the niggling minuteness of his touch. •,ria Belgic Galliott Aground, (44,) and Sand-Bank near QuillebotsW(70,) the vessels are stuck fast; 'tis true, but tbe Sails are as rigid and motionless as the hulls; and even the rippling wave has something of the quality of tin. There is atmosphere in them, however, though the clouds are heavy: but the microscopic minuteness of the Dutch school, of which Mr. Cooke is a disciple, is fit only for still life.
IMAGINATIVE LANDSCAPE ought properly to take precedence; but such unnatural conventionalities as Mr. Martin's Morning and Evening in Para- dise, (160 and 184,) are only noticeable for their extravagance; and Danby's Gate of the Harem (401) is more artificial than poetical : fuliginous in tone and teaboardy in execution, its fine qualities are obscured by the opacity and gloss of the painting. This picture has been bought by Prince Albert; to whose German taste its hardness, darkness, and smoothness, may not be objectionable. Another artist patronized by the Prince is J. D. Wingfield; whose Summer Afternoon, (312)-a pretty view in Hampton Court Gardens, with a courtly party in the costume of Queen Anne's reign grouped on the turf-has taken the Royal fancy. This artist's merit lies in minute exactness of detail and petite neatness of execution; as is shown in his elaborate but tame interior of The Cartoon Gallery, (212).
In STILL Lim, G. Lance stands alone. The rich colouring and pictorial effect of his groups of fruit, glass, and plate, give value to these-represen- tations of inanimate objects; which, however, are often deteriorated by over-elaboration, and a mannerism that interferes with truth of imitation. The Last Ripening Sunbeam (89) appears to have imparted its hardness to the pine-apple and plum, and made the vine-leaves and Russia matting metallic; and in another picture there is a melon of rather a ligneous quality. Nothing short of perfection is tolerable in this chits of subjects.
Previous page
