NEW PRINTS.
Mn. Cousties has just finished a brilliant mezzotint of LAWRENCE'S beautiful picture of Lady Dover and her Son. As a whole, it is a master- piece of this style of engraving. The face of the lady is the perfection of art ; the purity and softness of the flesh tints, and the delicacy of the marking of the features, are such as we can hardly expect to find in a mezzotint, and as no other artist can equal ; indeed, we think it is the finest plate that Mr. COUSINS has produced. There is also a sketch of Lady Dover, by LAWRENCE, engraved by LEWIS, in his delicate manner of imitating chalk drawings. The beauty of this lady has been a fruitful theme to artists—and a profitable one also. " Auld Robin Gray," by W. GILL, is a feeble repetition of that much- persecuted subject. The expression of the old folks is but a maudlin de- crepitude, and their daughter is a pretty piece of perplexed insipidity. It does not express the pathos of the ballad, though that is of a selfish sort. The effect of the print is good, and the mezzotint, by W. NICII0. LAS, is smooth and clear.
Mr. JAMES STEPIIANOFF, the water-colour painter, has commenced a series of lithographic drawings of historical and poetical subjects, from pictures by his brother and himself; the First Number of which is be- fore us. The style of the brother artists is very similar. It is artificial and affected, and evinces a talent more showy than solid, and that amount of skill in drawing which is sufficient to gloss over its defects. The characters look like indifferent actors, conscious of their dresses, the costumes and accessories being the best part of the designs. " Gil Blas and the Archbishop of Granada," by F. P. STEPIIANOFF, is a clever picture ; but the expression of the offended priest is forced, and Gil Blas has none at all.
"Shylock, Launcelot, and Jessica," by the same, is not a Shak- speariau scene : Shylock is not " the Jew that Shakspeare drew." Neither is " Portia and Nerissa," by JAMES STEPHANOFF, worthy of the subject : it is a lady and her maid in quaint costumes, and that is all The " Knight preparing for a Tournament," by the same, has the appearance of having been drawn by a lady; the sweet-faced pages are. the most prominent personages, and the champion looks like a " carpet knight." The group is confused, and the drawing feeble : the horse is very bad.
Part IV. of the "Beauties of the Court of Charles the Second," con- tains Mrs. Middleton and the Countess of Sunderland, two of LEIX'S semi-decent nudities, with wanton ringlets, loose robes, leering eyes, and lascivious lips, as like each other as two decked-out demireps need be; Mrs. Mott, a demurely conscious beauty,—after WISSING, ; and Lady Bellasys, by HUICSAIAN, more natural in look and character, and with something like expression in her countenance. It is by far the best picture of them all, and is not indeeent, —though her robe does appear to be worn more as a foil to her ,charms than as a veil to them. These ladies, as represented by LELY, seem like a set of Court Magdalens before repent- ance. The engravings, by T. 1Vatour, are extremely good. ran Mei' the "Castellated _Mansions of Scotland," by MILLMAN-
Der., contains, among other specimens of these singular structures, with their conical-roofed turrets and square towers with pepper-box projec- tions at the angles—a view of Glammis Castle, as it appeared in 1826. This subject is interesting from its Shakspearian and historical associa- tions. The building is lofty, and somewhat stately and picturesque ; but the drawing is bald, and by no means equal in pictorial effect to the other plates ; the style of which is simple, bold, and artist-like, and the execu- tion very neat and clear.
The Second Part of ALEEN'S "Illustrations of Don Quixote" con- firms our opinion that the artist has mistaken his talent, in attempting to illustrate Cervantes. His skill in delineating horses enables him to portray Rosinante, but he represents the Knight of the Rueful Counte- nance as a mere scaramouch. Mr. Ar.KEN substitutes grimace for humour, and gives us caricatures instead of pictures.
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