tau Axis.
THE GRMS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
Rustouns have been prevalent for some days past that this, the ninety-sixth exhibition of the Royal Academy, would excel its predecessors of the last dozen years, and for once we may say that rumour has been confirmed by facts. The impression produced on walking through the rooms is, that rarely has the average of merit been so uniformly high as on the present occasion. Very few are the instances of glaringly bad pictures occupying con- spicuous places. The hanging appears to have been gone through in a conscientious spirit, and though we are sure to hear of instances of favouritism, of gross neglect, and studied injury, no candid observer, who takes into consideration the task of fitting in eight or nine hundred pictures of all sizes and all keys of colour into a limited apace so as to ensure a tolerably harmonious whole, will deny that the arrangement has been conducted with fairness and impartiality. In the meantime the artistic cry is for "more space." The number of painters has so wonderfully increased of late years that the space at the disposal of the Academy is totally inadequate to the demands made upon it, and the well-wishers of English art look forward with impatience to the day when the whole of the building called the National Gallery shall be transferred to the Royal Academy. The number of pictures unavoidably turned away for lack of room exceeds by some hundreds that of any previous year, and among them were works of high merit.
It is not possible, in the limits of the present article, to enter into any detailed criticism of the works exhibited. We can only at present pretend to enumerate the more remarkable pictures, reserving to a future opportunity a more analytical notice. Com- mencing, then, as in duty bound, with the members of the Academy—we find that Messrs. Maclise, Herbert, and Frith are entirely absent—Mr. Ward is represented only by a small and somewhat indifferent picture of " Thackeray in his Study." With the works of some of the members we might readily ,,
have dispensed ; others, again, have never been seen 4.
"6"/ batter advantage than now. Conspicuous among these stands Sir Edwin Landseer, who has never produced a more original or impressive work than his "North Pole," with its cold grey sky and dreary waste of icebergs, where two ravenous white bears are snarling over some of the relics of the unfortunate Franklin expedition. In direct contrast to this powerful work is another of two squirrels peaceably nibbling their nuts on the branch of a tree, while a plump little bullfinch is piping to them merrily from below. These and two smaller works give ample proof that our great animal painter is still in the fullest enjoyment of his powers. Mr. Phillip; has a large representation of "A Spanish Wake," very powerful in effect, and painted with more than his usual vigour of handling. The post of hononr in the great room is occupied by Mr. Lewis's "Courtyard of an Eastern House," which is one of the most marvellous instances of patient industry perhaps ever seen on the Academy walls, but it may be questioned whether it is painting proper. There is an entire absence of unity, while the detail is so endless that the eye is wearied in the effort to follow it.
14,-,;0k has four or five pictures, one of which only differs much from his previous workg. It is called "From Under the Sea," and pourtrays a group of men who have issued from a copper mine, the candles still flaring in their hats—the women and children are waiting to receive them. The colour is singular, but without doubt true to fact. Mr. Poole has two pictures, one a version of Mr. Hodgson's subject of last year, "The Lighting of the Beacon onthe
Approach of the Spanish 4rmada." Mr. Millais is represented by five pictures, three of which will certainly not add to his reputation.
The sequel to the "First Sermon "—the same little girl we saw last year asleep in the pew, will doubtless be very popular, but by far his best and most striking work is a portrait group of two gorgeously dressed young girls reclining on a carpet and playing with flowers. The background is formed of a gilded leather screen marvellously painted, and in front of the children is a globe of gold- fish, the whole being painted with an intensity that few but this painter can reach, while the extraordinary power of infusing vitality into his faces, in which this artist excels all his
brethren, has never been more conspicuously shown. Mr. Good- all contributes a "Fête Champetre," which recalls his earlier works, and two Eastern subjects, the larger of which—a desert scene, with a woman offering a bowl of water to a camel-driver, is very large and manly in treatment. The works of Messrs. Faed, Ansdell, Dobson, and Horsley call for no special remark ; they are up to the usual level, and will sustain, though not increase, the reputation of their authors. Mr. Elmore, besides a pretty subject of a pensive nun walking in a convent garden, exhibits a more than life-size figure of a young man in armour called -" Excelsior," very thoroughly drawn and painted, though a little melodramatic in conception. Mr. Stanfield is well represented by four pictures. His "Peace" and " War " are as fine as any- thing he has produced during his long career as a painter ; and the familiar style of Roberts will be recognized iu his "Rome" and "Cathedral Interior." Among the number of Royal pictures, of some of which the less that is said the better, Mr. O'Neil's "Landing of the Prince and Princess of Wales at Gravesend" will ensure the largest share of popular applause, but we cannot help feeling that Mr. O'Neil is somewhat out of his element— his picture is not free from a vulgarity of colour and a coarseness of rendering in the faces of his figures.
Among the " outsiders " there is a steady growth and improve- ment visible. Mr. Leighton has not for a long time exhibited a work so fine as his "Dante," and his accomplished powers as a draughtsman and designer have been at length done full justice to by the hangers. Mr. Prinsep takes high rank as a colourist— his life-size female figure gazing at the spectator from a balcony shows a feeling for large decorative work of no common order. Mr. Watts and Mr. Armitage are the only other representatives of large historic art, but the latter's "Jezebel and Ahab" can scarcely be termed a success. Mr. Calderon's " Burial of Hamp- den" shows great poetic feeling and truth of tone, and his "Women of Arles," though evincing signs of hasty execution in in parts, is a capital example of this popular and versatile painter. Mr. Yeames's striking picture, "La Reine Malheureuse " is a decided improvement over his "Sir Thomas Moore" of last year. Mr. Marks has three subjects, the chief of them being mendicants asking alms of a sturdy baker, who stands in the doorway of his shop debating whether he shall give or no. Mr. Hodgson follows up his interesting series of subjects connected with the Armada by "Queen Elizabeth at Purfleet." The picture is not so well placed as its delicate painting and charm- passages of colour deserve ; but it will well repay a careful taition. Mr. Storey makes a great stride with his "Ball-room
Scene in the Time of James I. ;" and Mr. Leslie in his "Barge- man's Baby "—a very capital little picture—bids adieu, let us hope for good, to that carelessness of drawing, &c., against which we have more than once warned him in these columns. "The Deserter," by Mr. M. Stone, will hardly ensure for its author the success of his " Napoleon " of last year. The arrangement of the groups is disjointed, while the painting, though clever, verges on the meretricious. Mr. E. Crowe makes great advancewith his "Luther,' a large composition of many figures composed with great skill, and full of accurate and carefully painted detail. Mr. Rankley is another painter who shows progress ; his "Gipsy Tent," though painful in subject, is powerfully painted ; and Mrs. E. M. Ward, in her "Princes in the Tower," has surpassed all her previous efforts.. Two clever pictures by Mr. E. T. Poynter should not be passed over—" A Siren," and "An Egyptian Sentinel." The firm drawing in the latter work, the knowledge of form and the inventive arrangement of the background, deserve high praise. The ship- ping and the quays in Mr. Whistler's" Rotherhithe" are painted with great verisimilitude ; and a quaint figure of a Chinese girl painting a vase contains some good passages of colour and capital imitation of textures. The younger Scotch painters, with the exception of Messrs. Pettie and Orchardson, do not progress. Mr. Pettie's "George Fox" is by far his most important work, while Mr. Orchardson's group of girls crossing a moor is very charming- in treatment.
A very interesting feature of this year's exhibition is the num- ber of pictures by foreign artists. With one exception they are not of high order, but it is instructive to compare their style and. manner with those of our own school. The names of Tidemand,, Van Lerius, Tissot, and Lehmann, are already more or less familiar to English ears—the name of in Gros is new to us, but it is appended to a work which at once places the painter in the highest rank. It is hung in the Middle Room high up, but not so high but what it will impress every observer by its originality. A group of women (life size) are kneeling round a wayside cross in prayer. The background is composed of a dull grey sky and a thick pine wood. It is impossible to estimate too highly the simplicity of treatment, the subdued sentiment of the figures, the subtle grada- tions of tones in the black and white dresses, or the startling look of reality given to the whole scene. We do not hesitate to say that this work recalls forcibly some of the best pictures of Velasquez, and that in itself is great praise. This brief summary cannot be better concluded than with the mention of this remarkable work by M. Le Gros, which will be the picture of the year in the estima- tion of the artists, though its merits are perhaps too subtle for popular appreciation.
The portraits, landscapes, sculpture, &c., we must refer to on a. future opportunity.
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