SCENIC EXHIBITIONS.
Two scenic exhibitions have been opened this week, which, independent of the interest of the subjects, are curious as affording the means of comparison between the styles of English and French scene-painters : these are the Kineorama, in Pall Mall, the production of Mr. CHARLES MARSHALL, of Covent Garden Theatre, with the assistance of other English artists ; and the Diorama of the Funeral of Napoleon, in St. James's Street, painted by Messrs. SEEMAN, PEUCHERE, BESPLECHIN, and DIETERLE, of the French Opera in Paris, who were commissioned by the French Government to execute the decorative parts of the funereal pageant.
The Kineorama is a moving panorama covering a surface of ten thousand square feet, with dioramie effects introduced, illustrative of the recent events in the East : views in Turkey, Syria, and Egypt— by sea and by land, near and distant—are blended into one continuous scene, or succession of scenes, like the pantomime "Diorama." The series commences with the Sultan reviewing his troops in Constanti- nople, and concludes with Mehemet All and Ibrahim Pasha at the head of the Egyptian forces in Cairo ; the bombardment of Acre and the ex- plosion being the prominent incidents in the Syrian views. The archi- tectural features of Constantinople and Egypt, the Turkish and British shipping and craft, the groups of figures in characteristic cos- tumes, and the atmospheric effects of the landscape, are depicted with spirit and cleverness, bespeaking thorough knowledge of the subject and masterly skill and freedom of execution. The various alternations of light are brilliant in themselves, and the momentary transforma- tions produce a startling effect : for instance, the picture is suddenly changed from the deck of the Phcenix steamer to the walls of Acre at the moment of the explosion, by the simple but ingenious con- trivance of painting one scene as a transparency, which, by shift- ing the light from the front to the back of the canvass, becomes visible. The metainorphoses were not in every instance so complete as to show no traces of the other painting, nor were the transitions from one effect to another so neatly managed as is desirable, on the first exhibition ; but practice may have remedied these accidental defects by this time. The sense of unreality and indistinctness of impression, resulting from the running of separate scenes of a totally different character one into another, is an inevitable disadvantage attending this mode of picturing; while the nearness of the canvass to the dye, ren- dering the working of the machinery both audible and visible, is a drawback incidental to the smallness of the room.
The Diorama of Napoleon's Funeral consists of three fixed and se- parate scenes, having no changes of effect, and exhibited one after another : they represent the procession at three different points, as de- lineated in the published lithographic prints. The first shows the fune- ral-car arriving on the platform of the Invalides, and the head of the procession advancing along the avenue of statues and flaming altars leading to the court-yard ; the galleries of spectators on either side of the esplanade are decorated with pensions, and the lofty dome rises in the distance. The second exhibits the court of the Invalides, its ele- gant architecture enriched with statues, trophies, tripods, &c., the windows hung with funereal draperies and cypress wreaths, while from tall masts clustered with tricolour flags depend mourning streamers : the procession is here on foot, the coffin being borne on men's shoulders to the entrance, where the priests are assembled to receive it. The third represents the interior of the chapel, the nave crowded with military, the arched intercolumniations hung with funereal draperies, and filled with spectators : in the distance is seen the catafalque, under the dome—which is converted into a chapelle ardente by the blaze of numerous chandeliers and rows of lighted tapers.
Daring the exhibition a seraphine plays the funeral-marches com- posed for the occasion, and the booming of cannon is imitated ; and in order to impress the visiter as well as to set off the views, the apartment is obscured and a lugubrious effect given to the passages by lights dimmed with green glass. The outside attractions of tricoloured flags and cypress wreaths, by the by, tend to raise expectations of something more imposing within, than three pictures having no pretensions beyond clever scene-painting.
A comparison between the merits of these two exhibitions is almost inevitable ; and vet it is hardly fair : for the wide scope and variety of subject in the Kineorama afford room for pictorial invention and dis- play, and give occasion for vivacity and brilliancy of colour ; whereas the faithful representation of a funereal pageant is of necessity triste and formal, while the multitude of figures requiring to be well made out in- creases the labour and difficulty of the task. The exterior views of the Invalides are admirably painted, and the pictorial effect is managed with great skill : the interior is the least_ successful ; the transparent painting of the chandeliers probably destroys the effect of the rest : however that may be, it lacks brilliancy and force, and the style of painting is coarse.
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