FINE ARTS.
THE OLD PICTURES AT THE BRITISH INSTITUTION.
Timis is the last and the greatest exhibition of the season—the grand climax of picture sights. It is the annual pageant of painting, in which trophies of the conquests achieved by the veterans in the splendid and peaceful field of art are marshalled in gorgeous army. With what pure and unmixed delight we find ourselves once more surrounded by the old pictures, after running the round of modern painters! It is Paradise after Purgatory. It would be unfair, however, to institute a comparison between such an assemblage as this and a modern exhibition ; one might as well set a shelf of classic authors of all ages and countries against a London publisher's list of new books. It is no disperagement to our living painters that they cannot vie with the choicest productions of the great masters of all the schools, such as are here brought together. This is one of the rarest of miscellaneous selections there are few Dames in the bead-roll of fame unrepresented. The most munificent contributor is the Duke of DEVONSHIRE; who has furnished between thirty and forty of the finest pictures in his collection in town, that are to be relegated to his princely palace of Chatsworth. REMBRANDT and Munn.ro shine forth most conspicuously ; and there are some aoble specimens of SAINATOR ROSA and GASPAR POUSSIN. The subject pictures are less notable than the portraits, which are tran- scendently fine. RAITAELLE, TmEIAN, TINTORETTO, VELASQM:Z, Zucensito, RUBEN% and JANSEN, as well as REMBRANDT and Aluana.o, are seen in perfection : we scarcely miss VANDYKE and HOLLEIN. They are no less admirable as pictures than interesting as resemblances. The individual character is personified with such vividness that the most ordinary face becomes attractive. From such portraiture one might study human nature. Want of space prevents us from enumerating all the excellences of the collection ; we must therefore be content with indicating a few of the most striking portraits. These constitute the leading feature, by which the reader may juage—exfronte Hercuk of the greatness of the rest.
We begin with the North Room ; tpvehiiicirhineogontariinosrootiwyo ptohre.
grandest heads and the most wonderful the p. trait of Lorenzo Pucci, in his robe of office as Grand Penitentiary, (210 and "A Jew Rabbi," by REMBRANDT, (10.) The first is said not to be a RAFFAELLE: we care not by whom it be—the pie., ture, like all fine ones, does not depend for its value on the name of the painter, even though that should be RAFFAELLE. It is a head of the natural size, finished like a miniature, and it has the relief and identity of life. It is like a crayon painting, produced by three colours only, black, white, and red ; and the effect of the black and white robes and the ruddy flesh is extraordinary. The face is handsome-featured, with a sharp and penetrating look, as though the eyes read the heart of the penitent : it lives and breathes. The care with which the smallest mmutim are attended to, even to the writing on the indulgences or confessions he holds in his hand, shows that nothing was too little for the attention of the old painters, as nothing was too great for their power. Let us turn from this refined and elegant production of art to the other, whose power is almost greater though in a lower school—the Rabbi of REMBRANDT. The features are coarse and heavy as those of a Dutch Burgomaster, but the weight and vigour of character and the gravity and subtlety of the expression exalt them into a kind of material sublimity. The compli- cated folds of the silken turban that projects over the brow, seem analogous to the intricacies of the casuistry which the wearer would employ to gloze a text. The gold clasp that confines the robe across his breast, the dim splendour of the apartment in the background, the fat, soft, wrinkled hands, folded complacently, and the fleshy markings of the face, all bespeak the pomp and luxury of the pampered priest. The intense reality of the delineation raises it to the ideal: this might have been a disputant with Christ. There are other fine portraits by REMBRANDT, but this is the chef d'aurre. " An Old Alan Meditating," (550 seems meant for David in a fit of repentance: the furrowed forehead, and the dull, blank look of the eyes fised on vacancy, are expressive of the grief of a troubled conscience. The paint- ing is sketchy, but it has that fichness of colour and splendid gloom of effect that characterize REMBRANDT's pictures. There are two extraor- dinary portraits by REsiums.s DT iii the Middle Room, at the corners,— one a portrait supposed to be John Lutma, the goldsmith, (730 the other an elderly female, (121,)—which for freshness, force, and richness, are surprising how admirable is the sprightly animation of the little old woman whose small face is so thinly covered with flesh that the form of the skull is seen under the features; and the quiet steady observant look of the old man, who seems conscious of the cane he holds in his hand. The execution is in a different style from any of the others : the handling is curious—it seems slovenly and unfinished, yet nothing is wanting. The lady with a fan, (62,) is in his most elaborate manner : the lace and ornaments ate impasted with the utmost care, and the face is finished with extreme delicacy : the glow of light and the living look of the face are wonderful. The concentration of force in REmaitAsior, both as regards character and effect, gives interest and value to the most homely subjects : his power of realizing was greater than that of any other painter. The most living face in the exhibition—the one that has the most momentary look, having more of temperament than thought in the ex. pression—is a Spanish gentleman, (600 is whole-length by Muarti.o. 'lliC dark piercing eyes are lustrous with vitality, and the peaked nose seems to stand out from tic canvas. To give the appearance of solidity or relief is not the highest power in painting, but it is a power, and an essential part of the art ; and when combined with character and expression produces that effect of individuality and animation which is the tritunpli of portraiture. This has the air of a person alive. It was forcibly said, that "the modern painters only show the mask of the face, the old masters make you feel that you can put your humid behind the head ;" it is colour and varnish against flesh and blood and soul.
Want of room compels us to break off here. We shall resume the subject next week.
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