THE WATER-COLOUR GALLERIES.
The view-day common to both the Old and the New Water-Colour So- cieties affords immediate and special occasion for a comparison of their strength. In number of works, the junior body has a slight advantage ; in the proportionate quantity of subject pictures, and in their im- portance, and through this in the general interest of the exhibition, it is also first. Altogether, there is more in it to remark. It shows some- what less, too, of receipt-mannerism than its competitor, where whole groups of landscapes seem as familiar to us as are the names of their artists. But the most masterly exhibitor is still David Cox, the most perfect is still William Hunt—both at the Old Gallery. To this gallery the preponderance of merit belonged most palpably last year ; but the fact was then so fully accounted for by a single picture, that it was scarcely worth while to institute detailed comparison. This year there is no work by Mr. Lewis ; and "The Hhareem" is but feebly replaced by Mr. Frederick Tayler's "Fête Champetre in the Time of Charles II" (129). Mr. Alfred Fripp is very modest in pretension, and correspondingly pleasing and successful in attainment. Though slight, his little figure studies—of which "Pat and his Child" (168) and "A Reverie" (266) are good samples—are characteristic ; very different from the equally slight but obtrusive slovenliness of what he sometimes exhibits. The "Seven Churches—Clonmacnoise" (140), and other small views by the same artist, are also treated with much quiet truth. No. 69, "Highland Smugglers leaving the Hills with their Whisky," by Mr. Topham, is prettyish—which it should scarcely be—especially the foremost girl in the midst. But the artist's unchanging trick of expression is illustrated in rather an unfortunate mode : it appears forcibly in the face of" Barnaby Rudge " (238), and is apposite enough here ; what it must suggest in other instances we leave to be inferred. Yet more un- fortunate was Mr. Jenkins when he bethought himself of doing "Our Saviour" (208). Surely, in such cases, the artist must be able to appre- ciate his own total incompetence. Why not give the public credit for a
share of the like perception ? The false position into which Mr. Jenkins has thus thrust himself is the more to be regretted because in his own line he is more than commonly agreeable this year : " A Gossip over the Wedding Dress " (44) is pretty in both subject and expression-' and so are Nos. 59 and 254. In a similar style, MissRayner's " WearyTraveller " (171) appears to he very truthful and unpretending ; and the hangess cannot be held excused for leaving the precise sum of its good qualities problematic. " Lady Betty Germaine's Bedchamber, Knobs " (225) by the same lady, is a capital Nashlike interior. The last exhibitor of figure- pieces that we need refer to at the Old Gallery is Mr. Haag ; who, having acquired the practic of art, has set up with a stony purplish maunernas, and evidently rests contented therein. The most important works of the New Society arc by Mr. Warren the President, and Mr. Wehnert. The former has notably outstripped his last year's self; and, instead of a diluted Curbouldism' displays, with some excess of the inure external of severity, a portion of its inner spirit. In both his works—" The Death of the First-born" (122), and " The Wo- men at the foot of the Cross" (233)—the concentration of thought and treatment deserves much praise. The first is rendered, and sufficiently rendered, by a single group of a woman and her dead child ; and, even within these strict limits, the action alone conveys the expression. Op- posite is a door sprinkled with the blood of the passover ; and dawn comes over the cold sky. The overdone attempt at severity appears in one point ; the living flesh is dead, and the dead stony. To the same cause we ascribe it that, in the Crucifixion picture, the Christ is a mere wooden effigy—and of the rudest ; and the Virgin rigid and frigid. On the contrary, prettiness is too much consulted in the left-hand woman—a graceful:figure ; and the Magdalene, though not exactly chargeable with the same fault, wants intensity. The woman completing the group to the right is the most conventional and incomplete. This work is painted in fresco,—a fact for which allowance must be made; nor do individual objections lessen our sense of what has been already mentioned, the con- centration of the whole. The background is a simple laying of indigo. It is not easy to guess why Mr. Wehnert should have selected for his chief work so ungrateful a subject as "Sir Thomas Gresham's Promise to the City of London" (62) ; yet he has done his best with it, and the re- sult is in every way worthy of him. If this was a commission it might not have been amiss to state the fact : wisely has it been deemed impera- tive to do so with respect to "The Spirit of Religion" (105). Some un- claimed verses explain the data upon which Mr. Wehnert—rather to his credit, perhaps, than otherwise with such materials—has produced an ex- cessively stupid picture. A Placid old nobody, for whose approaching exit "yonder Genius of the Arts" is most gratuitously weeping, sits looking at a Raphaers St. Cecilia ; whereupon a "form seraphic" appeals to him on the vanity of his pursuits; with some self-sacrifice, seeing that itself is an undoubted denizen of the print-shop windows. Of his third subject, "Columbus at the Convent of La Rabida" (282), Mr. Wehnert has scarcely made so much as might be : but the countenance of Colum- bus, much-enduring, haggard, yet dauntless, is well cone( ived.
Mr. Vacher's " Scene in the Franciscan Convent, La Cava" (9)—the brotherhood at table heedless of a wistful beggar—is simple and probable in arrangement ; the colour rough and thick, but not untruthful in effect. This artist has several other works,—Eastern and Venetian scenes, some large and full of figures in procession, &c., and all showing a practised hand. Mr. Corbould is possibly even a more extraordinary mechanician than ever. On its own ground of brilliancy and telling finish of colour, No. 84, "Fides Disclaiming her Son, John of Leyden," may challenge rivalry. The intention appears to have been a combination of a certain historical ensemble with theatrical requirements ; but to all serious in- tents it is a stage-scene throughout. As portraits, however, of Viardot and Mario, Fides and John are complete failures. "Salome Dancing before Herod" (205) is far more objectionably meretricious. Why need Mr. CorbouM "quote Scripture for his purpose" ? A lolling copper- coloured voluptuary and two white naked dancing-girls might be more fitly assigned than to the New Testament. Mr. Absolon's " Clarissa" (137) is a pleasing figure ; and there is a pretty sentiment of half-humor- ous coyness in the "lassie" of No. 218: the free-and-easy wooer, sprawling himself into her good graces, does not take pains enough to merit the success he seems to obtain, and is a less agreeable object. Mr. Lee follows in the same track as Mr. Absolon, but with greater delicacy of expression and execution. These qualities need scarcely be carried fur- ther in this style than in "The Return from Market" and " The Wife" (194, 266) : "The Hoppers" (277) is rather commonplace on the whole. Mr. Theobald's "Ma Vourneen" (224) is a natural domestic sketch. We do not understand why: Mr. Wyld's chief design, No. 69, "Moorish Ladies attended by their Slaves,' should be hung almost out of sight : the Oriental luxuriance seems to be well given, and few works have so much of the completed character of a picture. Yet more unaccountable is it, unless the directors owe Mr. Davenport a grudge, that Mr. Green'a babyish caricature of him (181) should be on the line : the artist's share in the matter is merely pitiful, but that of the hangers rather discreditable. The intention which may generally be traced in the works of Miss Egerton has in No. 113 been refined upon till scarcely anything remains of it : the " Contadina " (350) is not worthy of her. No. 270, "King James decides on commencing Whitehall," by Mr. Kearney, is no more than a costume-piece.
Landscapes, of course, form the staple of both Exhibitions : and here, as we said, the first places belong to members of the Old Society. Mr. Cox has never produced a finer landscape, one more full of his best charac- teristics, than the "Gipsy Encampment" (111) : the break of morn is rendered with perfect truth. The Welsh scenes, Nos. 248 and 269, and more especially No. 265, "Mod Siabod," are remarkable for solemn depth: and we are tempted sometimes to accept from Mr. Cox, as freedom and directness, what in others would be only slovenly. The full value of the opposite excellences is felt in Mr. Hunt's "Winter" (264)—a truly wonderful (because truly natural and unconventional) piece of rich, varied, and minute colour, reminding us strongly of Mr. Anthony. Of Mr. Hunt's fruit, flowers, bird's-nests, &c., we can only say that they are quite beyond anything else of the kind, and that all praise bestowed on similar works must be qualified by reference to these.
After Messrs. Cox and Hunt, no artist here is more successful than Mr. W. C. Smith. "Seashore' from Filey Bay" (200) is poetically treated, the
distance of sky particularly fine : in No. 217, " Northfleet, near Graves- end," the sky is again excellent, with its gorgeous scattering clouds; and the whole work is painted almost to the aspect of an oil-picture. This is the case also in Mr. Branwhite's contributions ; most strikingly so in No. 67, "On the Bath Canal-Frosty Evening." The "Old Windmill, near Walton" (42) is excessively bright, rich, and dexterous. Nothing in the gallery is more pleasing to the eye than this, or the "Sketch from Nature, near Conham " (252) : but the chalky mannerism is not less prominent than the cleverness. The best of Mr. Naftel's views, all of which de- serve praise, is "An Old Guernsey Road" (191)-very true and pleasant in its variation of Autumn hues, and possessing a certain interest not al- ways obtained. Mr. Richardson shows to most advantage in No. 184, "Rumbling Bridge, Perthshire" and the "Scene in Glencoe" (190), which are well and carefully designed : his other works are often flimsy, and always too undistinguished. Messrs. W. Turner-especially, so far as may be surmised, in No. 82-George Fripp, Duncan, and Dodg,son, are well represented : Messrs. Bentley, Copley Fielding, Prout, and Callow, with slight gradations of success, what they always are ; and what that is the reader knows probably as well as we can tell him.
At the New Society, Mr. Bennett is an extensive and generally a good landscape-exhibitor : the swimming repose of sunset is admirably con- veyed in the "View from Richmond Hill" (56) ; the " View on the Conway and Beaver Bridge, N. Wales" (39) is finely mournful ; and the "Reflections in N. Wales" (73), limpid and watery. In Mr. Davidson's landscapes there is always a peculiar charm of nicety and precision. Small as they often are, they are scarcely ever inconsiderable or slight, never what can be styled careless. His fondness for downright green is refreshing. The colour of " Shicre Church, near Guildford" (33) is very rich and solid ; "An Autumn Afternoon" (37) highly poetical ; "Crab- catching, Brighton Beach" (220), "Autumn-Study from Nature" (275), and "Near Chipstead, Surrey" (357), as simply beautiful as can be. Special attention is always given by Mr. Davidson to the treatment of his skies. Mr. Maplestone is among the most daring of our water- colour artists ; and sometimes, as in the sunsets of Nos. 54 and 160, achieves a success and attains an elevation, which, considering the great difficulty of the attempt, may be pronounced remarkable. Another capital sunlight effect is that of Mr. Collingwood's interior, "The Rehearsal of the Sport" (289). Mr. Penley's best work is "the Tryfaen Mountain" (242)-solidly and accurately treated, and grand in sentiment : the girls' figures in the foreground should be out. One word of commendatory mention must suffice for Messrs. Howse, Oliver, Cook, Robins, D'Egville, Pidgeon, Rowbotham, and Lindsay. Mr. Penson's " Llanbaclam Church, Cardiganshire ; a Snow Scene" (193)-the snow represented in actual fall-is of striking excellence, broad and strong in colour : and the land- scapes of Miss Fanny Steers are extremely sweet and harmonious- notably Nos. 108 and 235. Mr. Haghe's "Church of St. Gomar, at Lierre " (49) is finely lighted. In animals, Mr. Weir stands, as usual, supreme.
Very fresh are the flower-pieces of Miss Mary Harrison ; who, we think, has more sentiment of the loveliness of flowers than any of her competitors,-as, indeed, may be inferred from, her evident predilection for roses. Miss Harrison's flowers are those which it is most conceivable to smell. At the Old Gallery, Miss Maria Harrison-unless the ladies are identical-shares the same excellences. Here Mr. Bartholomew, with "The Victoria Regis" (I), a work of very creditable care-and Mr. Rosenberg; in the New Society, Mrs. Margetts, Mrs. Harris, and Miss Fanny Harris-are the remaining representatives of flower and still- life painting; all decidedly meritorious.
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