ROYAL. ACADEMY EXHIBITION.
San—As an acknowledged wellwisher to the fine arts, I am sure you will be glad to give publicity to the following statement, taken from the Cata- logue, if it'be only for the consolation of those who suffer annually from the very limited means which. the Academy have at their cOininand for display- ing the works of other than their own members. All the world knows now what the litre signifies in the nffmngoment of pictures for the Exhibition. An eight-feet highs demarcation running all round the gallery, to be sus- pended from which is the post of honour ; to be placed above, except in the case of very large or indifferent' pictures, or near the floor, is accounted grievous usage. NoW; Sir, the Hue in the three great rooms for oil-paint- ings is wellknown to constitute the attraction of the exhibition—I of course exclude the'Octagon-room, or black-hole, out of charity to both exhibitors and hangers. La: the present exhibition, the line contains seventy-five pic- tures; and, as the members have the preference in their own rooms, it very naturally follows that thirty-seven 'exhibiting members and associates, out of a total of 60, sending any number of works not exceeding eight each, should swallow up almost the whole space. And so it is : for the members occupy 69 places out of the 75 ; the remaining 6-places being left to do honour to a selection from the 434 pictures. in these rooms, which were produced by 338 non-members ; that is, 37 members occupy 69 places on the line, whilst 338 non-members occupy 6 places.
Again : these three rooms contain altogether 576 pictures ; 37 members producing 142, and 338 non-members producing 434, which latter is above three-fourths of the whole. Thus, you see that a non-member, cue of the unhappy 338, who has no other* means of coming before-the public than through this exhibition, has no chance at all scarcely of having his works fairly seen and appreciated, however kindly the members may feel disposed to lend him a helping hand. This is very like "the pursuit of art under difficulties."
Why cannot the Minister give the whole range of galleries to the Royal Academy, and send the Old Masters where Professor Faraday says they ought to go if they are really to be -preserved, out of the smoke and filth of the 'centre of London ? In return for such a boon, it cannot be doubted that the doors of this circumscribed institution would respond to the spirit of the age, and open wideenough to admit the acknowledged talent outside. This could not fail to prove a source of sincere gratification to the members themselves, as professors of liberal arts, since it would remove a load of anxiety which annually presses on them respecting the fair and honourable treatment of the works sent for exhibition by their untitled fellow labourers in the vineyard
of art. Aw Exnrerroa. N.B.—The two ends of the West or smaller room have the line broken this year, some pictures being hung higher and others lower than the eye.
• The laws of the Academy allow of no exhibitor sending his works to any other institution of art in London at the same time.
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