FINE ARTS.
THE ROYAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION.
THE first Monday in May, and with it the opening of our great art-exhi- bition, is at hand. The works of the exhibitors have been sent in since the 811) instant • and as the reserve imposed on us by their reticences and uncertainties begins to thaw, some hints by way of foretaste to the public -may not be -unwelcome. The President does not exhibit ; Mr. Mulinady is understood to be in the same case ; nor, owing to recent ill health, has Mr. Webster sent any work of importance. Mr. Herbert, we believe, will be represented merely by a kind of study. Mr. Leslie gives another of those realizations from Don Quixote in which he stands unrivalled ; and Mr. Maclise appears in more state and importance than within some years past, with a picture of Caxton presenting his first printed sheet to Edward the Fourth.
This work comes in somewhat striking coincidence with one, also of very imposing dimensions, by Mr. Ford Maddox Brown,—Chaucer read- ing his poems before Edward the Third and his Court. From many Mr. Brown's picture will elicit as much surprise as admiration ; others, who have already learned to appreciate him, will find their expectations more than realized. The work has been purchased by the Messrs. Dickinson of Bond Street—much to the honour of their judgment.
Mr. Poole and Mr. Redgrave have gone, as we understand, the one to English history, the other to Scripture, for their subjects. Pepys kiss- ing Nell Gwynne behind the scenes, by Mr. Egg, will doubtless be a great favourite—the lion among the works of that compact and unmis- takeable body, the younger Associates, with whom this artist is generally, and to some extent fairly, identified. Mr. Ward has the imprisonment of Louis the Sixteenth and Marie Antoinette, and a John Gilpin ; Mr. Frith, Hogarth arrested while designing before the gates of Calais ; Mr. F. R. Pickernill, Rinaldo cutting down the enchanted tree ; and Mr. Elmore, Hotspur and the Courtier.
Mr. Armitage's " Aholibah" achieved for him last year a position much in advance of that which he formerly occupied : he has returned to the Old Testament, selecting a grand and suggestive theme—Samson grind- ing at the mill among triumphant Philistines. Other high-class works are—the death of a daughter of Charles the First in prison, by 'Mr. Lucy ; an entombment, by Mr. Lear ; and two painted for Mr. Pete, by Mr. Cross—Harold at the deathbed of Edward:the Confessor, and-swear- ing en the relics before Duke William. Mr. Kennedy will appear in his usual style,—which implies that he will be delightful; and Mr. Rankley
has something in the -" publicans and sinners' line. Mr. Cave Thomas sends an emblematic study, Hope sustaining the despondent. A picture I of many figures, with more than his usual action and character, is pro-1 wised from Mr..ildone : but we will wait to congratulate him at our { leisure. Scarcely any works will possess so strong an interest—an interest not their own only, but of the future of British art—as those of Messrs. Millais and Hunt ; none, we are well.assured, will more engross public at- ; •tention, or point more emphatically to themest-vital considerations. When criticism changes into detraction, .a shrewd ,guess may be ventured that it has been challenged trumpet-tongued to stand .forth in its own shape. ; This it must do at last, and with honest thanks -from all aides, or the tune comes when it has to be silent altogether. Perhaps it will be found 1-that theseyoung_artista have worked taauch purpose this year as to force on the consummation a step or two. Much notice also will fall to the share of Mr. Collins.
It is rumoured that Delaroche's " Napoleon Crossing the Alps," re- cently on view at Colnaghi's, will reappear at the Academy. A Last Judgment by Martin was spoken of as well ; but we have heard that this is to be exhibited singly. The Sculpture-room threatens to be very empty ; the.Hyde Park Exhibition acting as a drain.
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