PICTURES AND ARTISTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ANNUALS.
THE " Illustrations," as they are called (though in the instance of the Tourist Annuals the text serves merely to illustrate the plates—there- fore, to speak more correctly, the Views) of three out of the four Landscape Annuals, have already appeared ; and a rich and varied array of lovely scenes they present—carrying the stay-at-home traveller into distant countries, and projecting the imagination into past times. The Landscape Annuals are naturally and deservedly the most popu- lar. There is little danger of a beautiful view being misunderstood, through a want of skill on the part of the painter, or of imagination on the part of the spectator. The eye is attracted and the mind inte- rested by the sight of new and strange prospects, or " old familiar" scenes ; and the many do not trouble themselves to estimate the degree of success on the part of the artists. A landscape, like a tour, must be poor indeed if it fails to excite, by its novelty alone. The three sets of views before us belong to Jennings's Landscape Annual, Heath's Picturesque Annual, and the Oriental Annual. In the Landscape Annual of last year, we made a little tour through two or three departments in the South of France with HARDING: this year we enter Spain in company with DAVID ROBERTS; and though we get no further than Andalusia, and are principally occupied with Grenada and the surrounding country, there is ample scope for the artist's powers in the wild and wonderful scenery, arid the magnificent remains of Moorish grandeur, amongst which the far-famed Alhambra stands proudly eminent. It is not the quantity of ground over which the sketcher travels, but the use be makes of it, that is the test of his industry and ability. We shall be glad to advance further into this romantic country with ROBERTS next year; but in the mean time, we hope to see the Alhambra with the eyes of LEWIS, who has brought home a portfolio laden with its beauties and marvels, which are imitated on stone by HARDING and others. HARDING, we regret, was deterred from entering Spain when he visited the South of France: this year he is gone up the Rhine to Switzerland ; and much as this rich vein of ore has been worked, he will no doubt find fresh treasures. Most artists have been content to view its banks from the river ; HARDING is exploring the heights and the richly-wooded country beyond. Besides, the skill of the sketcher is shown as much in the selection of his point of view as in the way in which he throws the scene on paper; and the identical view seen through the medium of another's man's mind is as different as the same scene viewed under various effects of nature.
In the Picturesque Annual, we last year voyaged with STANFIELD along the North-west coast of France; tiffs yrari CATTEAMOLE is
our cicerone to the spots in bonny Scotland," rendered doubly famous by history and romance. " Scott and Scotland" is the inviting title" of the series, of which the present is the first.
In the Oriental Annual, DANIELL is our guide, as last year, to the curiosities of Indian scenery.
Turtsrsat, in his Annual Tour this year, has followed the course of the Seine from RouUn where he stopt last, to Paris, in pursuance of his plan of giving the scenery of the Rivers of France. The Prospero of Landscape has not yet revealed to us the splendid visions which his magic wand has conjured up; but Paris itself, we hear, forms the main subject of his views.
THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
While the Continent has been traversed by artists on every side, the Peninsula has been but partially explored • and principally, of course,
in the vicinity of the seat of war. The lovely and romantic province of Andalusia, rich in historical and poetic associations, as well as in picturesque beauty and grandeur, was almost till now untrodden ground. The harvest is gloriously abundant ; and we need not fear that the reapers will be too few. Other provinces of Spain may furnish scenery as wild and stupendous ; hut Grenada, the favoured seat of the Moors, can boast of possessing the richest trophies of their elegance and refinement, in their splendid architectuee, which realizes the gor. geous descriptions of the Arabian Nights. The country round Grenada presents some points which equal in sublimity and grandeur Alpine scenery, and surpass it in striking character: the masses are less vast, but they are most fantastically picturesque. Pinnacles of rock rise with almost precipitous abruptness, towering into the clouds from the vallies ; while tortuous walls and scattered habitations climb up the rugged steep, and a toppling ruin crowns the summit, like an eagle's eyrie, making the sense giddy. • The castle-crowned heights of the Rhine sink into insignificance compared with the airy peaks of Logue, Gamin, and Alcala el Real, and the lofty table. land of Ronda, where the city stands as upon an Acropolis of nature's own formation ; and a bridge, seemingly poised in air, unites two cliffs separated by a cataract that falls with lung leaps from ledge to ledge of rock—steps for the giants to scale heaven—into the hidden bed of the stream in the depth of the valley below. In the views of Grenada, too, the snowy ridge of mountains bounding the fertile plain—like the girdle of winter round the lap of summer—gives a grandeur to the scene that harmonizes well with the masses of buildings broken here and there by tall square towers, partaking in their ensemble of the classic beauty of Italian architecture ; while within, all the sumptuous enrichments of Oriental fancy adorn the walls. The Moorish arch is at once light arid strong ; its horse-shoe form is adopted in tunnelling; but then the arch springs from the ground, and its beauty is only com- plete with the support of pillars ; or when it surmounts a gateway, as in the Gate of Justice, whose lofty proportions surpass in elegance the triumphal arches of Greece and Rome. The projecting eaves, open galleries, and balconies of the houses in Grenada, and their grace- flit proportions, mingled with the Moorish arches, Italian towers and fronts rich with tracery, present a union of chasteness of design and prodigality of ornament, as beautiful as it is rare.
To form some idea of the exterior of the Alhambra, let the reader
conceive a massive pile of buildings, like Windsor Castle for instance, but of double its extent, rising from a rocky eminence whose rugged
slopes are varied with foliage, and having a background of Alps. The masses of the building are mostly square towers, some battlemented, others with Italian roofs ; and their faces are relieved by windows, some having projecting balconies and covered galleries. Within, it includes numerous open courts, with fountains and baths surrounded n
o one or more sides by arcades richly carved of Moorish arches on light pillars. Over all is a cloudless sky of intense blue, and a burning sun lighting up the stone sculpture, and painting the walls with shadows of trees and clusters of columns : the snowy summits of the distant mountains and the bright sparkle of the fountain give a sense of coolness to relieve the burning heat ; and a silence like the hushed stillness of a sleeping city prevails, broken only by the plashing of water. You enter the deserted halls, and there behold the richness of the exterior ornaments beggared by the lavish profusion of decora- tion; of which the most superb Gothic tracery conveys but a faint ides. It is a perfect filigree of sculpture,- the variety of the devices being only equalled by their intricacy. The domed roof of the Hall of the Abencerrages is like a structure of honeycomb ; and the arches of the Hall of Justice resemble concretions of stalactites—it is as if the falling shower of a fountain were frozen into icicles. The Court of the Lions, so called from its central fountain being supported by sculptured lions, reminds one of the description of Solomon's Temple. Mr. ROBERTS has treated these magnificent subjects with great ability as far as reminds the architecture. He conveys as finely $s possible the idea obi' vastness, height, and richness. But the ar- rangements of light and shade and colour, especially in the landscapes, have neither the variety nor all the truth and beauty of nature. We wish for the palette of TURNER, to fling over the enchanting scenes the charm of his wonderful effects. Now, it is like a Gothic cathedral without the prismatic hues of stained glass " casting a dim religious light :" it is the mere matter of fact without the poetry of the art. The artist, however, in making an effort to add the imagi- native colouring, shows that he is sensible of what is due to the sub- ject: and we only wish he had been able to do it ample justice.
THE PICTURESQUE ANNUAL.
We have had landscape and historical, or more properly speaking, dramatic, illustrations of SCOTT'S Poems and Novels separately ; Mr. CATTERMOLE has combined the two. He not only depicts the actual scenes of the events described, but the incidents themselves: his illus- trations of Scorr's works are therefore the most complete of any ; al- lowing for slight discrepancies occasionally unavoidable in the appear- ance of persons and costumes of bygone days, in scenes which no longer bear the same aspect. Thus a view.of the Crypt of Glasgow Cathedral represents the kirk held there, and Frank Osbaldistone listening to the mysterious warning. By the stream of Glendearg, at twilight,iS the monk on his mule, pursued by Christie of Clinthill : in !ill", the effect of fading day is beautifully represented. In the rums OL
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