FINE ARTS.
ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION: FOURTH NOTICE.
At the head of the Inventive and Illustrative Pictures stand the works of the "Preraphaelites," both singly and as a class. Subtilty of thought in combination with the most manly breadth and directness of feeling is the distinguishing characteristic of Mr. Hunt. His method displays this, as well as his conceptions ; and it is thoroughly exemplified in the "Claudio and Isabella "—the prison-scene from Measure for Measure, whose essence is distilled in the quotation, "Death is a feartn1 thing—And shamed life a hateful." The work shows forth the opposition between moral elevation and moral cowardice, with that calm self-possession which is true power. The bowed head of Claudio, his sidelong glance and month set half-open, and the impulse which directs his unconscious hand to the manacled limb, express, us fully and quietly as we ean conceive it, the dread of death and the ignoble hope. The appeal of Isabella, whose wrist he had clasped in his urgency, has the solemni- ty and earnestness of an order of feeling which belongs to a region, and is prompted by considerations, altogether loftier. The half-shadow falling on both figures from the light behind them which enters through the prison-casement, is managed with wonderful beauty ; and the whole colour is varied in sober richness. The glimpse of fresh blue sky and the apple-blossom through the window, with the church-spire visible afar, like an emblem of religious duty controlling the immediate affections, and the lute hung up in the dungeon, form especially a delicious passage of colour. The hands of Isabella—rather large and long—are also painted with extraordinary truth of effect. Perhaps Claudio's hair looks a little like a wig ; and we feel, though unable to say precisely wherein it consists, a degree of immaturity in the style of this work as compared with Mr. Hunt's latest,—which the date marked in the corner, "1850," may ac- count for. In force of conception it is surpassed by none ; impressing as it does all the moral dignity of the subject, without any of that didactic tameness which is heresy in art We shall have to speak again of Mr. Hunt as we proceed.
In choice of subject, and in some points of treatment, Mr. Millais has met the opponents of Preraphaelitism half-way ; to his great gain in popular recognition, although not, as we think, to his own true progres- sion. "The Order of Release, 1745," portrays the liberation of a Scot- tish prisoner of war—a Gordon, as his tartan shows. His wife, who car- ries in her arms their sleeping child, is the bearer of the order, and his eager 'dog leaps up to lick his hands. The expression of the woman is deeply imaginative. It is also of the extremest difficulty ; being one of those expressions of complicated emotion of which Mr. Millais has already shown his singular mastery in the Huguenot picture and the Ophelia of last year. Triumph, endurance, the fulness of a heart torn with the eestacy of joy and tenderness, the nervous unreason which conjures up the fear of failure even in the moment of exultation, speak in the flushed cheek, the proud mouth, the veiled eyes before which the objects swim, and the clutch of the hand which will not let go the "order of release" held out to the impassive gaoler. The expres- sion of the husband, who sinks overcome upon her bosom, is equally and intensely pathetic : and the minor incidents of his wounded arm, and the primroses which the boy had gathered for his father, now dropping from his grasp relaxed in the deep slumber of childhood, help admirably to tell the story. The technical merits are marvellous ; deep simple colour, un- hacknied in its harmonies, perfect texture, and above all flesh—as that of the child's legs—such as we know not where to find paralleled in paint- ing. The sticklers for composition also will give Mr. Millais more than warm praise. Nevertheless, we are not without our objections ; and they are objections attaching to what we conceive to be some paltering with the decried Preraphaelite doctrine of absolute undeviating truth. There is no background, properly so called, but merely a laying of dark colour, whieh may be supposed to stand instead of, but cannot be admitted to stand for, the shadowed prison-wall. Such an assumption, again, is at variance with the light on the figures, which seems to belong to an out-of-doors effect. Furthermore, the opening of the dungeon-door and the joys of liberation would scarcely have accompanied, still less preceded, the official scrutiny which the guard is bestowing upon the order of release. And the wife's feetare preternaturally delicate and unsoiled for one who bag been walking barefoot. Let those who will accuse us, as they have heretofore accused Mr. Millais, of the love of dirt and ugliness : we maintain that those feet represented as they would have been, though always with whatever refinement the feelings of a true artist must dictate, would not only be more truthful, but would supply an affecting link in the story of the wife who has despised toil and weariness in the cause of love. We may add, that, with all our heartfelt admiration of the feeling of both this and the artist's other picture, they appear to us to partake more of the senti- mental, and by so much to derogate from the nobly universal tone of the Hu- guenot subject of last year. The second work, "The Proscribed Royalist, 1651," exhibits a Cavalier, who, hidden in the hollow trunk of a tree, kisses the hand of a fair Puritan from whom he receives a secret supply of food. The background here is perhaps the most lovely and the most perfectly painted which Mr. Millais has produced. The luxuriant vegeta-
tion, the ferns and mosses, the thick receding trees which scarcely allow a glimpse of sky, form a gorgeous feast of colour. A truly astonishing amount of beauty is got into the rugged trunk, with its sun-smitten elaboration of pearly hues ; and the golden light which stars the fore- ground is no common paint, but a veritable Promethean theft. The satin gown, too, is vivid beyond precedent, and all the colour of the lady's upper dress a chaste pure harmony. The weather-dimmed gallantry of the Cavalier is completely expressed, but perhaps he is rather small; and
the cautious apprehension in his good angel's handsome but hardly en-
gaging face has a touch of peevishness. The work has a positive glory about it, however, for the downright beauty of the scene and the object- painting. It strikes us—though we speak hesitatingly in the case of so known a student of the real as Mr. Millais—that some of the shadows on the satin are too absolutely black, to the neglect of reflected lights.
The small work contributed by Mr. Collins, and to which a verse from Keble is appended, is the sweetest he has exhibited for the union of graceful feeling with lovingly finished detail. The little girl's face has a great charm of innocent tenderness, and the fuchsia is the no plus ultra of imitation. The flesh and hair are still too thinly painted, and the former much over-stippled. We know that Mr. Deverell must have made a pleasant thing, with a feeling for that Shaksperean mood which he illustrates, of "The Marriage [mock marriage ?] of Orlando and Ro- salind " ; but the hangers, who consider the top of the Octagon Room good enough for it, do not allow us to see that it is so. We manage to discern, however, that the leafy shade is truthful. As You Like It brings us face to face also with that most sanguine of volitional P. R. B.s, Mr. Rainford ; in whose picture, "Celia telling Rosalind that Orlando is in the Forest "—a perspicuous subject truly !—we recognize some glimmer of advance beyond the memorable "Hotspur and the Courtier" of last year's British Institution.
Mr. Cope is not to be congratulated on either the choice or the treat- ment of his chief subject—" Othello relating his Adventures " ; which is more germane to the style of such painters as Mr. Hook. It has not in- tellect or variety enough for Mr. Cope, and he has not that charm of sen- timent and matter which is proper to it. The conception evidences no- thing beyond the average : in the execution, the best point is the half- shadow broken by patches of light upon the listening 13rabantio. His legs, however, are cut uncomfortably short ; and the gesturing of Othello, although it will not be thought actually exaggerated by those acquainted with Southern emphasis, is neither dignified nor vividly expressive. "The Page" is a trifle, fairly enough successful, also of a kind Mr. Cope might leave to other hands. Sir Charles Eastlake's second picture, " Vio- lento "—an extreme example of his peculiarities—is one of those heads wherein, after frequent or prolonged inspection, one persuades oneself into discovering beauties both of form and colour, but of which the first unfavourable impression is, after all, the more correct. A rarely appear- ing artist, Mr. J. G. Gilbert, sends a work of mark, "The Young Mother"; whose hanging constitutes one of the most decided of the year's many anomalies. The background is so Titianesque and the style of the pic- ture altogether so much formed upon that of the old masters, that it must be pronounced a reminiscence : but Mr. Gilbert identifies himself with his models in the spirit of a reverent devotee, not of a 'plagiarist. The young mother is very lovely and Madonnalike in her simplicity ; and there are few works in the gallery which, for style, chaste sentiment, and artistic savoir faire, can be compared with this. Another peculiar work —peculiar in the range and scene of its subject—is Mr. Philip's "Life among the Gipsies at Seville" ; which stands out conspicuously also by the effective brightness of its colour and the varied multiplicity of its figures and incidents. Considerable interest attaches to presentments of this kind, uniting as they do, or professing to unite, the claims of fact with the picturesque singularity of remoteness, and putting before our eyes at once what pages of description fail to tell so thoroughly. The French have been foremost in opening the path as yet : Mr. Phillip promises to labour in it to good purpose. "An Episode in the happier days of Charles I.," by Mr. Goodall, shows the King and his family pass- ing up the river by Hampton Court in a gay pleasure-barge, and with all the agrecables of true holyday weather. The artist, whether in character- istic expression, brilliancy of colour, or finish of execution, will never get beyond the superficial ; but this picture displays his skill to some advan- tage, and is, at any rate, a relief from the well-behaved domesticities that have so often earned Mr. Goodall the tribute of public raptures. Two French artists, MM. Metter and Signol, contribute each a very mannered specimen of Gallicism. "The Sirens" of the former offers little for approval, unless it be in the management and peopling of the Odyssean ship, which, standing right across the picture, presents a singu- lar but rather impressive aspect. The subject alone of M. Signors work, "La Fee et la Pen i poursuivant rame de r Enfant," and the verse-quota- tion thereto appended, would make good drawing under difficulties and delicate French colouring go but a short way with English visitors. Mr. Cave Thomas does not exemplify the finer side of himself in "Clara "- the death-scene from Harridan; Mr. Kennedy wastes himself and impairs his capacities on the veriest baubles ; Mr. O'Neil desecrates, with sterile self-sufficiency, the Heaven-sent "Dream of Queen Katharine"; and Mr. Rankley's wooden precision formalizes "Dr. Watts Visiting some of his Little Friends." Vicar-of-Wakefieldism, that old old incubus of the British genius, seems to be on its last legs—throwing off, through the medium of Mr. Faed, only a single wraith, as far as we can recollect : Gil Bias, we believe, is actually nowhere. The solitary specimen in question, "Olivia and Sophia," is pretty, but wants substance both of thought and handling: the sunny shadow on Sophia's face has been capitally rendered, however. Mr. Wyburd's " Beatrice " is as alien from the lady of Much Ado about Nothing, for whom the action shows that the painter intended her, as she would be inadequate for her in whom Dante "vide perfettamente ogni salute"; but the fair thoughtful beauty and the very soft and finished execution prove that Mr. Wyburd is an acquisition to the ranks of our promising young men. As a Shaksperean realization the " Dogberry " of Mr. Marks is more successful. Its two good qualities of character and care entitle the artist to be borne in mind. "The Knight's Recreation," by Mr. Morgan, has bright lifelike expression ; "The Friar of Copman- hurst entertaining the Black Knight," by Mr. H. H. Martin, a symp- tom of originality ; and Mr. Bendixen's "Night Patrol" stands unique among its author's productions for some effective notion of the subject. As in last year, Mr. Cope contributes to the Domestic Pictures. The Mother's Kiss" evinces an intimate study of expression : the child, large-featured and seared-looking, is a queer little object, yet probably true. "Mother and Child" is very nicely composed, and sweet in sentiment; the action of the mother elaborated with great care, and the infant's deep sleep nature itself. We take leave of Mr. Copo by including in this section his "Portraits of a Mother and Daughter—each taken during childhood, and after eighteen years' interval," a pretty juxtaposition. Both heads are treated with grace and feeling : but the original one, though slighter, is painted in a more natural method of colour. Mr. Webster has a new "Dame's School"—one of his best pictures for simple truth of expression and management of light, always allowing for general un- due lowness of tone. When we say that the "dame" has gone off in a doze, and that the " dunce " is making fun of her behind her back, the other incidents of applausive laughter, playing at games and playing the truant, and demureness of individuals, will be surmised as of course. In a sketch—for it aspires to be no more—named "A Little Music," Mr. J. J. Chalon portrays with considerable humour and nicety of cha- racter the infliction of a trio upon a company of morning idlers, who evidently vote it a bore. The costume as well as the tone of this clever trifle indicates it to be of rather remote date. A curious title, "Now I'll tell you what we'll do," introduces us to one of the more satis- factory among Mr. Stone's rustic subjects—free at least, thank Heaven! from all attempt at sentimentalism. Four lasses loll about a heath plotting some mischief; the chief conceder of which, by the by, is far from unlike Mr. Stone himself. The light has some truth, and the whole arrangement some quaint " favour and prettiness." "A Nile Flower" is another embodiment of the artist's well-worn ideal : but why this English girl showing off in masquerade costume should be assigned to legend-haunted Egypt we are at a loss to know.
Mr. Ford Medea Brown appears with the least imposing but one of the most finished and charming of the works he has exhibited at the Academy. The title, "Waiting," may be understood to imply that the busy-fingered wife and the child slumbering across her knees in the pleasant hearth-light arein expectation of the husband's return. A warm- er brighter glow of colour, more homelike in its sheltered quietness, it would be difficult to find. The partial lamplight leaves one side of the figures exposed to the full influence of the fire,—which rests in a deep crimson reflection on the baby's white clothes and on his ever ruddy cheeks. This is a peculiar but we think scarcely an overdone effect. A new and very promising artist—but now, as we have heard, an amateur —is Mr. J. Leslie. His field of study has evidently been Germany : his costumes and faces, and to some extent his style, are German ; but we do not fancy he will allow himself to be shackled by subservience to any school. No. 213, "Children, they have Nailed Him to a Cross," appears to represent the propounding of Gospel mysteries by an old woman to a party of peasant children, surprised and somewhat awed. Gravity of expression, a superiority to pettiness, without any particular ideal, as well in form as in general treatment, and colour clear with a little hardness, distinguish Mr. Leslie. Uncommon both this picture and his "Head of a Child" assuredly are ; and uncommonness, when, as in this case, neither reckless nor absurd, is always welcome. Mr. George Smith has a nicely- felt Mulreadyish background in "The Launch " ; the figures and incident of which are not without fun, though of a rather set and unimpulsive kind. The in door sunset-and-shadow effect of "Evenings at Home" is very highly wrought, rich, and faithful ; and a remarkably real, if slightly formal look, pervades the whole. The foreshortenings in both these works are bold in attempt, but reduce their objects to a form verging on that of the toad. "The Young May-Queen," by Mrs. E. M. Ward, shows decisive advance, and hints that the lady, if this is entirely her own handiwork, may at no distant day rival her lord in the laying-on of colour. There is much telling painting, and no want of truthful expression, in this picture.
Mr. G. B. O'Neas " Tax-gatherer " recalls, but does not fully sustain, the excellent augury of his " Foundling " of last year. In the "Young Missionary," the Indian Ayah is very well nationalized. "Entering the Garden," by Mr. Smallfield, has qualities of unaffmted truth piquantly presented, which, when he shall have obtained more freedom and confi- dence of handling, should bear good fruit : his small study of " Stillaria " is delicate. In Mr. Hardy's "Independent Electors debating on the state of the Poll" there is an amount of character, simple and strongly marked, which might justify him in treating subjects of more individual interest than his interiors, however good, can pretend to be. Mr. Dell's "Rabbit- Fancier" is distinguished by warm, brilliant, genial colour ; Mr. Cahill's "Irish Peasant-Boy" by literality and breadth. The infantine or juve- nile subjects of Mr. Hicks, Miss M. A. Cole, Mr. Poyner, and Mr. Rich- ardson, have all a touch of nature—the first with the most art. "The Last Resource," by Mr. Brodie—a father and mother selling their daugh- ter to an old husband—is only less vulgar than previous works of the same artist, but it shows a knowledge of expression.
Previous page
