FINE ARTS.
PRIVATE VIEW OF BURFORD'S NEW PANORAMA.
BAG° MAGGIORE, the largest of the lakes of Lombardy, and Isola Bella, the most beautiful of the Borromean islets that stud its tranquil bosom, form the subject of Mr. Beaman's new panorama, which oc- cupies the place of the view of Thebes in the upper circle of the building in Leicester Square. It is a spot of' serene and romantic beauty ; realizing all that can be conceived of the grandeur and lurch. ness of Italian scenery.
The view is taken from the lake, near to Isola Bells; whose palace and gardens, raised in a pyramid of terraces from the solid rock, seem like a vision of enchantment. All around is spread out the calm clear lake, unruffled but by the boats that glide over its glassy surfitce, and almost encompassed by mountains, clothed with verdure and plants- tions of vines, and wooded ; their wildness relieved by white villas, churches, and castles, dotting their sides up to the summit: along the margin of the lake are clustered towns and villages, with their square masses and flat roofs gleaming out from the green background, and mirrored in the water below: and in the blue distance tower the Alps, their snow-capped peaks glittering in the sky.
The distinctness with which remote objects are seen through the pure atmosphere of Italy, while their distance is preserved, is admirably imitated, without any of that hardness which spoils most attempts to represent this peculiar effect. The translucent appearance of the water, and the variety of hues it assumes from the objects reflected in it, are represented with a success that CALLEOTT or Teuesat alone could rival. Indeed, in the chasteness of the painting, and the fresh yet glowing clearness of the atmospheric effect, this panorama resem. Lles one of C A LLCOTT'S Italian landscapes on a large scale.
The vast expanse of the lake is enlivened with a little flotilla of punt-shaped boats, with white tilts or striped awnings and flags, tilled with market-people carrying fruit, or pleasure-parties ; and
one of the long timber-rafts, propelled by sails. The principal object of attraction in the foreground, however, is the " Isle of Beauty," with its terraced gardens rising one above another, from a sub.structure of arches, having an artificial and formal yet elegant and fairy-like appearance. The long rows of orange, lemon, and citron trees, and hedges of myrtle, rising above parapets and bales- trades, interspersed with statues and obelisks, and flights of marble steps, are broken by rich masses of liyerangias and oleanders, and cypress and laurels oflarge growth ; while frun the rocky base springs the American aloe, with its colossal bloom. The palace and various buildings give to the whole an air of princely magnificence, worthy of the descendants of ST. CHARLES BORROMEO ; who may well pride themselves on the creation and possession of this miracle of art, in which a barren rock is converted into an enchanted garden.
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