ART.
BETHNAL-GREEN MUSEUM.
THE collection of pictures and other works of art which Sir Richard Wallace has with such genuine kindness lent for exhibi- tion at the Bethnal-Green Museum, is one of extraordinary extent and value. The pictures, without including miniatures, number between 700 and 800 ; and it is the object of these notes to indi- cate, however imperfectly, the great beauty and value of the collection. The schools represented are the English, Dutch and Flemish, Italian, Spanish, and French ; the Dutch, Flemish, and French in great abundance ; the others more sparingly. Beginning at the head of the south staircase, the pictures. are arranged in the order above mentioned, an order which may be conveniently followed here. Indeed a better name it would be hard to find than Reynolds to introduce a visitor into the upper realms of Art. Some of our great artist's greatest and most famous works are here. Such are " The Strawberry Girl" (20), and " Nelly O'Brien" (8), the latter of which was exhibited at the Royal Academy so lately as last winter. "Mrs. Hoare and Son" (17) was also exhibited at the same time and place, and charmed all beholders, not only by its womanly and infantile beauty, but by its freshly-preserved colour. These are too recent in the public memory to need further remark. A less known but singularly beautiful portrait is that of " Mrs. Braddyll" (30). The great colourist is here shown by the sober yet luminous tints, by the cream-white dress and black mantle, the former in most delicate contrast with the carmine and pearly greys of the face. But the crowning merit of the picture lies in the life and spirit that shine from the canvas, the perfect grace of womanhood, of the gentle soul thinking worthy thoughts that are expressed with so much modesty and ease. It is surely the insight of a congenial nature existing in the artist which supplies this supreme charm to the portrait ; and where no such sympathy exists no such results are to be expected. So true is it that " he who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies out with him." Another very noticeable quality in this and other works of Sir Joshua Reynolds is the superior reality, the more per- fect imitation of nature which they possess in comparison with most -of the work of the present day. The objects which he paints show as solid bodies with the light falling naturally upon them. The fashion now more in vogue is to exhibit a multitude of edges cut out as with a knife, dark against light, or light against dark. Certainly this method arrests the eye, and amid the clamour for notice at public exhibitions is supposed to win admiration for "force," " vivacity," &c., at the expense of more modest neighbours. But a cultivated eye and judgment find no pleasure or satisfaction in it. It needs but a glance from "Mrs. Braddyl" to the " Portrait of a Lady" (34), by Mr. James Sant, to appreciate the respective values of the different methods. The " Portrait of a Lady " (5), by Gainsborough, is a noble example of that other glory of the English school. The lady, young and beautiful, sits in a park, looking with absent eyes, and with thoughts intent on the person, whosoever it may be, whose portrait in miniature she holds in her hand. Notwithstanding their different manners of painting, what is said above of Sir Joshua's "Mrs. Braddyl " might be repeated of Gainsborough's " lady." It is surprising that the lady should not be identified by name. "Miss Boothby" (2), by the same artist, is a child attiring herself in her mother's hat and cloak ; it is a picture that fascinates by its directness, simplicity, and truth. A few other English pictures find places in the collection, but add very little to its value. The works of Bonington, however, of which there are several, are interesting specimens of an artist little known in his own country. He settled in Paris, and though his art had nothing distinctively French in it, he was highly esteemed time ; but he died (like Girtin) at the early age of 27, before his powers had completely matured. A relationship may be traced between his painting and other English artists who lived about the same time, sometimes inclining to Cotman, sometimes to Muller. Four water-colour drawings by Turner hung down-stairs must not be over-looked (1652-3-6-7).
Passing on to the Dutch and Flemish pictures, Vandyck's great portraits of Philippe Le Roy and his wife (59, 63), which were exhibited last winter at Burlington House, once more delight the eye. There is a noble half-length with blue drapery by the same artist, catalogued as "Male Figure, called Paris" (117). The collection is remarkably rich in Rembrandts, among which the portraits of "The Burgomaster Palekan and his Son" (100) and of that burgomaster's wife and daughter (107) stand conspicuous. There is some difficulty in interpreting the expression on the burgo- master's handsome face, and on the whole, the no less handsome and more self-possessed wife makes the better picture. They are both painted in the artist's earlier manner : i. e., before he acquired the habit of loading his canvas with great clots of paint. The portrait of himself (184) is full of life and fire ; and the "Youthful Negro " (172) is a triumph of colour, chiefly brown, broken by grey, and relieved by a touch or two of gold. Another great colourist, Dr. Hooghe, may also be studied here to advantage. His subjects are always homely, but are invariably treated so as to possess a dignity which elevates them in the ranks of art high above pictures whose only title to rank as " high art" lies in their subjects. This quality may be seen in others of the same school, as Jan Steen (204), Terburg (207), and Boursse (157). Netscher, too, in one instance (187) touches the same level. But of all these De Hooghe is the greatest colourist,—the greatest painter of the effects of sunshine. Every part of the " Interior " (99) gives lively pleasure. It is at once forcible and tender, rich and quiet, broad, yet abounding in variations of reflected and transmitted light and colour. For a
brilliant effect educed from soberest colours observe the upper right-hand portion of the second " Interior " (105). There is a fine largely-treated landscape by Ruysdael (80) ; a winter scene of exceeding beauty by Vanderneer (98) ; and some good cattle by Paul Potter (213, 235), wherein, however, the skies have become disproportionately red. There is more than one Hobbema; but it is questionable whether there was any greatness in the man. After his avenue of poplars in the Peel collection, there is nothing by him (at least in England) that repays study like Ruysdael. The famous Rainbow picture by Rubens is here (79), looking as if it might once have deserved all its fame. Some parts of it, as the middle distance on the left, are still quite Turneresque in the play of colour and light ; but other parts have blackened ruin- ously, and the very rainbow itself is darker than the cloud against which it ought to shine. Painters of still-life and of cathedral interiors may take a lesson by observing what was done of old by Weenix in one class of subject and by De Witte in the other.
The most exalted poetry of art is in " The Virgin and Infant Saviour, with Children " (255), by A. del Sarto. There is a divine beauty in the heads, which yet leaves them human, and reminds one of what was said of the Greek poet, that he made men as they ought to be rather than as they were. This and the neighbouring " Virgin and Child" (258), by L. da Vinci, are surrounded by an indescribable air of solemnity. They are of the highest achieve- ments of art ; they take a firm hold of the imagination, nor lose their hold by being frequently seen. So high is their aim, and so surely directed, that many another picture of great merit seems frivolous by comparison. There is a good " Virgin and Child," by Luini (262) ; but this is a commonplace woman compared with the Virgin in either of the other pictures. As to the pretty, plump girl by Carlo Dolce (254), she has as much to do with the assigned title, " Sacred Studies," as a leering damsel by Greuze has to do with " Innocence " (447). There is a fine black and brown portrait attributed to the school of Raphael ; and to finish at once with the Italian pictures, a word of admira- tion must be given to the views of Venice by Guardi, especially to that numbered (278). A small painting of Danae (316) is ascribed to Titian, but seems poor in colour for him.
Considerable space is devoted to Velasquez and Murillo. Of the first there can be no tiring. Can as much be said of the second? A multitude of figures too often seems beyond his powers of management, and with many beauties of detail the general effect produced is apt to be spotty (294). Still, " The Charity of St. Thomas de Villanueva " (305) is a noble work, the woman and child on the right being nobly designed. The little " Virgin and Child in Glory" (310), too, is unusually broad, besides being very splendid in colour. By Velasquez there is the " Spanish Lady" (321), lately exhibited at Burlington House, and several portraits of veritable grandees, both adult (320, 324), and infant (291, 299, 307). There is a massive and wholly unconventional treatment in all this man's work, as if complete success were never a moment in doubt.
There remains the French School, comprising some 400 pictures. Never perhaps was there such an opportunity of studying the works of a whole period as is afforded by Sir R. Wallace's collec- tion of works by Watteau, Lancret, Lemoyne, Boucher, and Pater. They are graceful, pretty, and trivial, and exactly reflect the life and manners of the time when they were painted. There is little to describe in them, representing as they do one perpetual fete champitre, or the game of shepherds and shepherdesses played in pink ribbons and high-heeled shoes. They are, in fact, merely decorative, and as such to be admired ; harmonious and fresh in colour, and occasionally, at least in the paintings of Watteau, giving indications of a capacity for better things. The art of C. Troyon, the landscape painter, was the immediate issue of our own Constable, and a most pleasing specimen of it is to be seen here (358). Decamp is vehement in action, but rather hot and artificial in colour. His thirty pictures, however, ought not to be summed up so briefly. He was clearly a man with brains. " Charles V. at St. Just" (336), by Robert-Fleury, is a thoroughly well-planned and well-painted picture. It was exhibited at Paris in 1867, and attracted deserved admiration. It needs only to men- tion the names of Vernet, Delaroche, Meissonier, GerOme, Bonheur (and these are but a few), to show how much has been omitted from the present notice. No apology, however, is offered for omitting a criticism of that most contemptible of men, Greuze. In spite of him, the exhibition cannot but do good where it is, and its complete efficacy is interfered with only by closing it
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