ART.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
riELED NOTICE.]
THE sculpture exhibited in the Central Hall is -well seen there. The sculpture gallery proper is a small space for its purpose, but of course very superior to the sculptors' burial-place in the old building. No advantage, however, of lighting or room will ever make agreeable a row of marble busts set cheek by jowl on a shelf, like gallipots in a druggist's shop. The multiplicity of busts exhibited almost necessitates that mode of arrangement ; and look- ing at their average quality, one might wish for a severer selection that would leave the accepted a better chance of being seen. The majority have but little interest ; and, in point of execution, are generally marred by an unexpressive polished surface, that gives the marble a poor appearance. Notwithstanding this fault, "A Girl's Head," by Mr. A. Munro (1,184), has a charming air of simplicity ; and, as usual, the fault is altogether absent from Mr. Woolner's work. He exhibits several busts of marked character, and which increased breadth of treatment has not robbed of a jot of individuality. Of these "Sir Bartle Frere " (1,285) and "Mr. Gladstone" (1,268) are the better examples for remark, as they are public characters. The former has all the marks of a man fitted to govern ; high cultivation, perspicacity, decision; and in the other is made manifest above all things the tenacity of purpose so necessary for a Parliamentary leader. Mr. Woolner also sends a statuette of " Ophelia " (1,248), companion to his last year's "Elaine," more beautiful than this, as Shakespeare is a far greater poet than Tennyson. She sits by the fatal stream, idly playing with the flags that fringe it, and uttering (apparently) "snatches of old songs." The beautiful upturned face is pathetically expres- sive of the mind "incapable of its own distress," and the pitiful- ness of her fate is finely enhanced by the rare beauty of this rose of May.
Mr. B. Cracroft objects to the relationship asserted in a previous paper of mine between Mr. Leighton's "Hellos and Rhodos" and Mr. Swinburne's "maddest verses." No doubt this was a hazard- ous shot from one who has but an imperfect acquaintance with Mr. Swinburne's writings ; and it might have been better to say at once what was and (though I would gladly think otherwise) is really meant, namely, that Mr. Leighton's picture is an offence against decency ; that under a pseudo-classic mask it has a las- civious leer which belongs not at all to the art which the painter affects to imitate ; and that its partial cleverness of realization only makes plainer its intrinsic impurity. This is not said, as Mr. Cracroft hints, because the theme is love, and Nature is the only draper ; but because of the voluptuousness of the treatment, and the brush that has lingered delightedly over every sensual contour. There is a story extant of a popular French sculptor who started on a visit to Athens to study the virgins of the Panathenak pro- cession, but was detained on his way at the city of Task by the attractions of the priestesses of Venus. He had a mind to be classical, but had no sympathy for the divine beauty and grandeur of Phidias ; and, returning to his own country, reached the pinnacle of his fame when he exhibited a recumbent figure, modelled, it was said, in plaster round the form of some nineteeth-century Leis. It is because Mr. Leighton appears to me to have proceeded in a kindred spirit with this, that in his picture the nude offends, while in Mr. Armitage's it is chaste, and braces instead of relaxing the moral fibre. I have no desire to moralize, but immoral art is bad art.
There is a good picture by Mr. Calderon, "Catherine of Lor- raine urging Jaques Cldment to assassinate Henry III." (67). The contrast between the delicate, unscrupulous woman and the coarse, hesitating monk is rendered with great force ; almost, per- haps, with exaggeration. It is a picture which is better able to restore Mr. Calderon's somewhat faded reputation than his coarsely-painted work in the great room (128). Coarse painting, by the way, is not the best alternative to pre-Raphaelite particu- larity. The portraits of the beautiful sisters Gunning probably suggested to Mr. Prinsep his " Hetty " (24), and "Amateur Dairymaid" (287), but the originals deserved a better imitator. If perpetual churning made Hetty's arm as big as here represented it would certainly not have left it so shapelessly clumsy. "The Last Rays of Sunlight" (730) is the most favourable specimen of Mr. Priusep's work, and has traces of that largeness of treatment which is his greatest merit. "A Siesta" (91) is too much like an imitation of the French representations of Roman life. Mr. G. Mason, on the other hand, is completely original, and takes his impressions from con- temporaneous rustic life. This he invests with a poetry quite his own, making the prettiest idyls out of common occurrences. Such a picture is his "Girls dancing" (438), which has all the charm of reality, as of a picture that has been painted because the artist was full of his subject, in contradistinction to the crowd of productions that are painted merely for painting's sake. The picture does not possess the usual richness and depth of Mr. Mason's palette, and seems indeed to be very unfinished. Another praiseworthy picture is Mr. Pott's "Fire at a Theatre" (2). Though the action is a little conventional, there is satiric truth in the clown with burnt knuckles rescuing the child, while the high-tragedy people are huddling away for their own safety. The colour of firelight is well caught. Mr. Feed and Mr. Hook are both popular, and not without reason. But they have of late been too easily satisfied with repetitions of themselves. The crossing-sweeper fallen asleep on the door-step is incontestably clever ; but why will Mr. Feed always depend on the same tricks of colour, the same bits of crimson, of blue and of green, in the same quantities, with the same brown as a ground ? It is im- possible that an artist who studies nature candidly, and with open eyes, should always repeat the same things.
Mr. E. J. Poynter's excellent drawing is turned to good account in the "Prodigal's Return" (110) ; and both Mr. Orchardson and Mr. Pettie fairly maintain their credit. There is, however, a smack of the theatre in each of the two last named that should be guarded against. The story in Mr. F. Walker's "Old Gate" (185), is well told, and the individual figures are expressive ; but the canvass is far too large for the matter in it, and the painting is very inexpert. Sir N. Paton's " Caliban " (405), is a most clever monster, painted in the artist's hard manner ; and, notwith- standing some exaggerated sentimentality, the notice attracted by Mr. F. Holl's picture is not unreasonable. Mr. Legros, as usual, supplies a few minutes' repose, much needed in every picture exhibition (185). To secure this quality he pushes to an extreme the use of figures in profile.
Of the portraits, that of "Mr. Fowler" (225) by Mr. Millais, and of the "Master of Trinity " (72) by Mr. S. Lawrence are remark- able for their forcible delineation of character. And the portrait of "Mrs. Bevan" (43) by Mr. J. Sant is charmingly simple and natural. Under this head also should be classed Mr. W. Field's "Towing Home" (382), containing a family group, chief among whom is a well-known lawyer, the first of amateur artists. Besides landscapes already noticed, is a beautiful view of the Lake of Lucerne by Mr. T. Denby (282), a sweet calm ; another, more sternly felt, by Mr. M. Anthony (248), and a haymaking scene, by Mr. Hayllar (94), displaying more of the simplicity of nature than his better-known pictures of sophisticated children.
"Medea," by Mr. Sandys (99), was a picture well known to artists before the opening of this Exhibition as a work of remark- able power and originality. The marvellous beauty and sup. natural spirit of the enchantress had made a deep impression on all who saw them, except on the inscrutable few who hold the keys of the Academy. The picture, it is well known, was
rejected last year, and any artist similarly disappointed may be consoled when he sees it now hanging in a conspicuous position on the Academy walls. But full compensation he cannot have till the fact is as generally recognized, as it has been frequently proved, that in the Academy acceptance goes by favour, or by what is supposed to be popularly attractive, or by any rule rather than real merit. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the so-called Select Supplementary Exhibition in Bond Street should, as it is, be supposed to include anything like a fair example of the pictures this year rejected from the Academy. If it did, the Academy were fully justified. But though it contains a few good ones, especially by Mr. Mawley, Mr. Brett, and Mr. II. Carter, yet it is not every artist who has the courage to proclaim his ill-success at the Academy ; and among many artists in a like predicament, who have not (for whatever reasons) exhibited their pictures in Bond Street, is one of the most eminent landscape painters and colourists of the day. And, be it remembered, the old excuse is no longer available. It cannot now be said that space was insufficient, and that rather than hang a good picture in a bad place it ought not to be hung at all. There are now no bad places on the Academy walls, while in the good ones are some productions that would disgrace any picture exhibi- tion in the world.
In the water-colour room there is little to repay attention. A spirited though tricky sketch of a beggar-woman and child by Senor Fortuny (559) ; a nicely-felt and agreeable picture of a music-lesson (688) by Mr. A. H. Marsh ; a vigorous and well- understood sketch of "Dirty Weather at St. Leonard's" (686) by Mrs. Bodichon ; some deep-searching but imperfectly digested studies by Mr. J. W. North (536, 549, and others) ; two soberly painted pictures by Mr. J. Knight (639, 648) ; a repetition by Mr. E. Duncan of one of his often painted coast scenes (655) fitted in the catalogue with the few lines of poetry that so innocently attract the eye of the public ; and a pretty sketch by Mr. Millais, of a lady who has just read to "the end of the chapter" (595) ; complete the tale. V.
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