PRIVATE VIEW OF THE CARTOONS.
THE private view of the Cartoons today drew a throng of visiters to Westminster Hall. It a as a striking change to see the scene of state trials and coronation banquets converted 'n'o an exhibition-room. The arrangements are admirable: two thirds of the ball are enclosed ; and this space is divided by a partition, forming two commodious galleries extending the whole length of the:hall. The Cartoons, one hundred and forty in number, occupy the entire surface of wall-space ; and some of them are perched up between the spandrils of the arched roof : all are sufficiently well seen; additional windows having been opened for the purpose of letting in light from above.
The display of talent is on the whole very creditable to the British school ; considering that there has been hitherto so little encourage- ment for the grand style in this country, and that the education of our artists has been very defective in drawing and composition. The pro- portion of real excellence, however, is small, and of absolute badness very great : scarcely one quarter of the whole number of cartoons are worthy to be exhibited ; and many are ridiculous in the extreme, show- ing want of sense as well as of ability. The prize-cartoons are not distinguished from the rest except by their superior merit : generally speaking, the best are placed on the line of the eye, and the worst up aloft. The decision of the judges, we think, is in the main satisfactory ; though there are three or four cartoons which deserve premiums as well as those that have been awarded prizes of the third lass, The number of premiums being limited, it was difficult to draw the line ; and the merits of the other candidates, we doubt not, will be recognized, by honorary gifts out of the proceeds of the exhibition. it Of the three cartoons of the first class, the first—numerically speak- my, for there are no gradations of merit marked in any one class- Ccesar's Invasion of Britain, by EDWARD ARMITAGE, who is said to be a young man of two-and-twenty--is remarkable for action ; Caractacus, by G. F. WATTS, for elevated sentiment ; and First Trial by Jury, by Corm, for dramatic spirit. In the second class, the characteristic of HoRSLEY'S St. Angustine is quiet elegance ; of BELL'S Cardinal Bour- chier, strong expression ; and of TowNsEND's Fight for the Beacon, vigour and energy. In the third class, FROST'S Una is distinguished for beauty of drawing and grouping ; SELOUS' Boadicea, for skilful composition ; BRIDGES' Alfred, for earnestness and simplicity ; SEVERN'S Eleanor Sucking the Poison, for grace ; PARRIS'S Joseph of Arimathea is commonplace.
Of those not rewarded, The Plague of London, (122.) The Baron's League. (110.) Edward the Black Prince Entering London, (118,) and Edward the Third Revoking the Sentence of Death on the Burgesses of Calais, (120,) struck us as among the most meritorious. These are the first impressions of a hasty glance; we shall return to the subject next week.
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