FINE ARTS.
EXHIBITION OF ART-UNION PRIZES. EXHIBITION OF ART-UNION PRIZES.
THE annual exhibition of pictures chosen by the prizeholders of the Art-Union of London, for 1843, is now open at the Suffolk Street Gal- lery ; and the visiters, as in all cases of gratuitous displays of works of art, are very numerous. The selection is, on the whole, more credit. able to the taste of the choosers than those of former years; there are fewer worthless performances ; and the highest prizes are not ill-be- stowed in the majority of instances, all things considered : in short, there is more judgment shown by the prizeholders than hitherto. This is a favourable sign of the advance of popular intelligence in matters of fine art ; for the subscribers may be fairly regarded as representing the mass of the community, though including the more enlightened portion of the public, and many artists as well as amateurs. The highest prize, of 400/, has been appropriated to the purchase of Mr. CHARLES LANDSEER 'S Monks of Melrose ; a carefully-painted cos- tume-piece, displaying neither originality of conception nor remarkable skill in execution, and tame and characterless withal ; but a clever and agreeable picture nevertheless, though not worth the high price fixed on it. Mr. C. LANDSEER is a popular painter with Art-Unionists : a picture of his obtained the highest prize last year, and one of his pro- ductions has been engraved. He is a safe artist ; never giving offence, or startling by a deviation from the beaten track ; always taking pains with his work, and accomplishing what he attempts so well that the deficiencies are not glaringly evident.
The 300/. prize has purchased a work of a higher class and more ela- borate in execution—Jepthah's Daughter—Last Day of. Mourning, by H. O'NEJL; a beautiful picture, characterized by refined sentiment and tender expression. It represents Jeptbah's daughter and her com- panions bewailing her sad fate; the patient resignation of the victim marking her out among the tearful mourners who surround her. Regarded merely as a group of lovely forms in graceful attitudes and elegant costumes, this picture has claims to admiration of no ordinary kind ; but viewed in relation to the story, it is unsatisfactory : it has not natural character and pathos sufficient to interest as the representa- tion of a real event ; nor is the conception of that elevated kind which impresses the mind as a poetic ideality. One of the 2001. prizes has been expended on a showy furniture-pic- ture. of the most imposing description of teaboarl-painting, called A Scene from the Arabian Nights, by E. Jecont ; which is nothing more than the life-size portrait of a Jewish-looking Turk caressing an insipid Greek slave, the persons seen by lamp-light, with a bit of thea- trical moonlight in one corner : the figures are well-drawn, however, and the costumes and accessories cleverly painted, in the hard, glossy, French manner. The other 2001. prize is better bestowed on Mr. ALLEN'S large landscape, A Devonshire Scene; in which the luxuriant richness and romantic beauty of this county are depicted with conge- nial feeling, and considerable skill : the sky and distance are full of atmosphere ; and if the autumnal tints of the foliage and the purple hue of the heather were harmonized so as to preserve the tone and keeping of the rest of the picture, it would be an admirable work of art. Mr. COLLINS'S Girl of Sorento, and SIDNEY COOPER'S Cattle at Pasture, have been purchased with the two 1501. prizes : and five of 1001. each have been laid out on the following pictures,—Highland Home, by A. JOHNSTONE; View on the River Teign, by F. R. LEE; The dupposed Death of Imogen, by WITHERINGTON ; A Scene in the Middle Ages, by A. J. WOOLMER : and The Introduction of Sir Piercie Shafton to Halbert Glendinning, by A. Eca. This last was one of the best pictures in the Royal Academy exhibition, in point of conception, character, and exe- cution ; and we are glad to find that its merits were perceived and appreciated, notwithstanding it was hung in the dark closet called the Octagon Room, where, except under very favourable circumstances, it was scarcely visible. The purchaser will have to pay 401. for it beyond the amount of his prize ; but it is well worth double the sum.
The landscapes of COPLEY FIELDING are rightly preferred by the choosers of water-colour drawings; though DESVINT, DAVID Cox, PROUT, and others, are not overlooked. In oil-paintings, the land- scapes of Messrs. J. W. ALLEN, H. J. BODDINGTON, A. CLINT, J. B. PYNE, W. SHAYER, J. TENNANT, C. F. TOMKINS, A. VICKERS, and J. Witson junior, and the marine pictures of Messrs. H. LANCASTER and J. WILSON, are preferred. All these painters are members of the Society of British Artists ; from whose exhibition nearly as many pictures have been selected as from the Royal Academy and any one of the other three exhibitions put together. This disproportion is too re- markable to escape observation ; and if it be occasioned by the prize pictures being exhibited in this gallery, or by any other cause than an unbiassed preference for the works of the members of this Society— which might and should be ascertained—the Committee owe it to the subscribers to interfere. We called attention to this circumstance last year. The bronze group in miniature, executed by Mr. E. W. WYON, from FLAxrasn's famous sculpture, The Archangel Michael and Satan, is a most beautiful work of art; and Mr. WOODINGTON'S bronze of Sir RICHARD WESTMACOTT'S Nymph and Child, is a very creditable pro- duction. Twenty of each of these bronzes were allotted as prizes at the two last distributions. A finished proof of the print given to the sub- scribers of 1842 is exhibited in the room ; and we are glad to be able to speak of it in favourable terms. The subject is MILToN's graceful picture, Una Entering the Cottage of the Witch : it has been engraved in line by Mr. W. H. Warr, with spirit, force, and clearness ; and, though somewhat too dark, makes an effective print. Sir AUGUSTUS CALLcorr's Raffaelle and the Fornarina is to be engraved for the subscribers of 1843 ; who have the option of receiving in lieu of it, .a bronze medal of Sir FRANCIS Cite/cram. by W. WYON, on giving due notice before Christmas-day. The bonus to subscribers for the current year is very attractive: in addition to a line-engraving by E. GOODALL, from STAN- FIELD'S fine marine view of Castello d'Ischia, every subscriber will receive, for each guinea paid, a series of twenty-two designs in outline, engraved by HENRY MOSES, from the original drawings by Mr. H. C. SELOUS, illustrative of BUNYAN'S Pilgrim's Progress. This is calculated to increase the number of subscribers ; which last year, notwithstanding its numerous rivals and the doubts as to the legality of these picture- lotteries, fell very little short of the preceding year. The subscriptions for 1843 amount to 12,334/. 7s. Od. : of this sum, 8,4001. has been ex- pended in prizes, and 2,0001. is set apart for the engraving. Thus it appears, that the Art-Union of London is a flourishing institution, approved by the public as well as by artists. The principles on which it is based are not of the highest kind : it appeals to the fondness for gambling as much as to the taste for art ; and personal advantage, not public benefit, is the inducement held out to subscribers. It is to be feared that it would be less popular if the subscribers did not receive their money's worth in prints, and the chance of being entitled to choose a picture for themselves besides : indeed, any other sort of encourage- ment of art than this is not to be looked for from the many ; and though mediocrity rather than high excellence is fostered by this means, a liking for works of art of some sort is diffused, and many pictures are bought that would else remain unsold..
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