ART.
THE TURNER DRAWINGS AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
TilE exhibition of the Old Masters at Burlington House this year is probably one of the least interesting, as far as oil. paintings are concerned, of any which have been held there of late years. If the supply is not falling short, it has at least not
been sufficiently exploited, for, broadly speaking, there are but few works of great merit, and perhaps none of extraordinary interest. However, in this first notice we propose to speak of none of the oil-paintings, but say a few words about the col- lection of water-colour drawings of Turner which fill the gallery always devoted to water-colour and black-and-white drawings.
This is an excellently arranged, well-chosen selection, of the greatest interest, and of considerable value to all students of painting. It shows the works of our greatest landscapist from the time when he was a boy of thirteen to the time when he was a man of sixty-seven,—a period of fifty-four years, during forty of which his hand was almost daily increasing in power, and his pictures in beauty. Here can be traced the first restrained, patient attempts of his boyhood, the mannered, slightly heavy compositions which marked the result of his instructions under Girtin, the gradual loosening of his conventions in colour, chiaroscuro, and composition, the gradual departure of the artist from the track of those who had preceded and those who surrounded him, and as the years went on, his gradual weaving from his scattered fragments of tradition, by his genius of draughtsmanship, his imagination, and his knowledge of that wonderful style in which one hardly knows whether the most vital element be the love of, and fidelity to Nature, or the echo of the grandeur of style that is found in the elder painters. For Turner's rivalry of Claude was, after all, the result of admira- tion rather than antagonism. The two men "wore their rue with a difference," but they both wore it.
It is a mistaken view of Turner's works to attribute the "weakening or corrupting" of his compositions to the influence of Claude. No doubt that influence led Turner into occa- sional weaknesses or absurdities; but from it, we think it is impossible to deny that he gained in grandeur of effect far more than he lost in simplicity of style. Nay, pro- bably all his most perfect, and what may be called simply natural pictures, derived much of their power from that very elaboration of composition, which occasionally in other works, betrayed him into absurdity. It may seem absurd to say that if he had not painted the "Building of Carthage," he could not have given us the "Frosty Morning ;" or that "Crossing the Brook" sprung from "Ulysses deriding Polyphemus ;" but it is, we believe, strictly true, and it will be noticed that the majority of exceptions which are taken by Mr. Ruskin to Claude's composition, and in connection with which his influence upon Turner's style is deprecated, are of a literary, as much as if not more than an artistic character.
But we must return to the water-colour room, which is the present subject of our consideration ; and passing over for want of space the very early student-drawings—interesting though they be—let us look first at the three drawings of Salisbury and Ely Cathedrals. These are all interiors, all pale in colour, all elaborate, if not precise in detail, and all, for this period of Turner's work, singularly beautiful examples; indeed, there is a purity of impression about them which we may look for in vain in the more exquisite works of future years. Is it fanciful to say they are such compositions as could only be executed by a boy of genius working in the serene light of a great cathedral ? We think not; for here there is a curious absence of self-consciousness and artistic prepossession, a secure feeling of quiet and unhurried industry, and apparently a single-minded desire to make a drawing which should simply tell the exact truth of the facts which are before the student. Compare them, for instance, in this regard with the " Norham Castle" of the following year, and the " Carnarvon Castle" of the year after, and notice in both these larger and later drawings how strong is the influence of conventionality, how marked are the traces of instruction. Notice, for instance, the way in which the dark masses of the castle are opposed to the warm glow of the sky, the balance of the light and shade, the arrange- ment of the masses, the introduction of the three cows in the water, and the boats and figures put with great skill and dexterity just in their right places. We see an entirely different side of the artist's nature ; we see him under the influence of "making a picture," as it is called; we watch him carrying out his instructions faithfully. It is interesting to trace the influence of convention in many details, for instance, as the drawing of the puddingy rocks and the round-topped trees in these comparatively early puddingy works, which come between the simplicity of the artist's early studies and the per- fection of his later pictures; and in the next four drawings may be seen the struggle that was going on in the artist's mind between his desire for giving with fidelity all the natural truth which he could perceive, and his attempt to follow the theories which he had learnt from his master, or the studies of older artists ; and it is not till three years later that the real beginning of Turner's greatness in out-of-door work is (in the present collection) shown in the view of Kilchuru Castle, in which a rainbow spans the landscape, while under its broad arch we see across Loch Awe to the mountains beyond. In this drawing, alike in the daring of its conception and the beautiful manner in which the formation of the distant moun- tains is suggested, we see that combination of vivid imaginative effect and detailed natural truth which lies at the root of all Turner's greatest pictures. This is perhaps the first picture in the gallery which hints at the fall revelation of the painter's power and capacity, which was soon to take place in such a drawing as the " Scarborough " (1809) of Sir Richard Wallace, —a drawing which, for delicacy, broad spaces of atmosphere, and simple beauty of effect, is surpassed by none in the exhibition; a drawing in which the artist's power of composition shows not, as in the " Norham " and the " Carnarvon," as a learnt trick, worked out systematically almost irrespective of special circum- stance, but with a subtlety of arrangement such as is unnotable save in the effect which it produces. The drawing has, however, faded a good deal. Next to this are two interesting drawings, entitled" Grouse-shooting" and "Woodcock-shooting," which are well known from being chromo-lithographed, and which we should imagine, though we have no knowledge on the subject, were probably executed for that purpose. The next eighteen num- bers in the catalogue are works of great value, and show Turner in his two finest periods. The first period, perhaps, may be said to close with the "Bonneville, Savoy," executed in 1817, and lent by Miss Julia Swinburne, or, in other words, painted when Turner was forty-two. It is a most beautiful work, not of his warmer, more vivid colouring, bat of the quiet and perfectly harmonised tints which mark what is kno wn as the artist's "York- shire period," and is executed in deep tones of blue and reddish. brown, full of the softest atmosphere, the subtlest indications of distance, and most innumerable details of natural formation. The serenity of perfectly matured skill is visible throughout this. picture, and in it the artist seems to have surrendered almost entirely any attempt at composition. The straight road in the centre of the drawing—as straight as a railway line—has, if we remember rightly, no single incident to relieve its monotony ; but. the result of the whole is almost perfectly beautiful, and contrasts very favourably with the drawing which hangs next this, the " Cologne " of the year 1820, in which a Venetian atmosphere, a bright sunset sky, and a general hue of colour which would be garish were it not so subtly rendered, combine to give a very dramatic, though singularly untrue rendering of the scene. It is necessary to guard ourselves against being supposed to mean. that this picture of Cologne is inferior because of its com- position, or is untrue, except in the sense of fidelity to local colouring ; it might be possible that such a sky and such an. atmosphere should produce such an effect in such a place ; but it is quite indubitable that those who know Cologne best will be the first to recognise that such an effect is not one characteristic of the place, and that the whole picture gives no adequate rendering of the peculiarities of the city. We have exhausted our space, but cannot close these desultory remarks without mentioning the one supremely lovely drawing here ; one which we think is the finest in the exhibition. This is the "Val d'Aosta " of the year 1825, lent by Mr. A. C. Buckley, and in giving it such high rank, we are determined by the fact that not only is the scene one of great natural beauty rendered in the utmost perfection, but also that it shows, in the drawing of the clouds and mountains, the artist at the very height of his power. The earth and the sky and the air have here been combined in one trilogy of beauty, in which each aids the effect of the others in the whole composition. The solidity of the broken bridge, the quiet flow of the sunny water, the trees and rocks and_ castle wrapped in the hush of the sun-warmed air, the blue shadows and lighted peaks of the steadfast mountains beyond, the fleeting fleecy masses of white cloud which a light wind is drifting across the summits of the hills,—these are the broad facts of the picture. But its innumerable details of loveliness, its exquisiteness of colour, its marvellous drawing, its over- spreading sense of peace and beanty,—these are beyond reach of any expression, as they are beyond the achievement of any rival.
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