FINE ARTS.
BEATH OF ME. HILTON.
BRITISH ART has lost one of its brightest ornaments, and the Academy a distinguished and valuable member, by the death of NVILLIAM Hivrox, B.A. .Mr. HILTON, always delicate in constitution, and of uncertain health, a few years ago sustaimal a very severe shock by the sudden death of his wife under mnismilly distressing cireumstances; and this blow is thought to have given a fatal impetus to the internal disease that lilt onately terminated in dropsy. Ile was entirely devoted to hiS art ; and haying no vhildran, his whole time and energies were shared between. hispr1ft'0siu„„d the solve duties of his office as Professor of l.htawing in the Antique school at the Academy : by the pupils he was respected and beloved, and his; loss Will caily be supplied. lis mann( rs \yen. mild and unassuming; in all the relations of life be WaS 11111hIble ;Old 11011ottnible; ;11O1 he was high in I he estimation of all who knew him. Ile died at the house of his brother-in law, Mr. DEWINT, the water-colour painter ; but up to the latest period that his illness permitted, Ina continued the exercise of his peneil and the dis- charge of his official fuootions. Ile was only in his fifty-third year, and under ((rdi nary circumstances might have added inany to the list of Ii ne pictures, on whieh Ii i high reputation as It painter of historical and poetical subjects is firmly based. 1111,Tox was hmootrably distinguished as the painterof his- tory who refustal to paiat portraits proressimally and great is the credit due to him for not sllowiog the distracting Imrstiit of a limner of faces to iliterrer,) with nobler aims, inftsmuch as the commissions he re- ceived for works of a hidi elm:s were fen, astl butt too many of his best efforts rentaia, we believe, unsold, The last picture lie exhibited was an episode 11.0111 the ” :1:111•Iler of the Innocents" in the last Academy display but one 1 the large painting of " Monks finding the body of 1 laraid," that formed a prominent feature in one of the latest exhibitions at Somerset I louse, slomed that his style had rather increased ill vigour I an otherwise. Butt, Inerever much his powerful pencil and masterly knowledge of drawing may have tended to impress grandeur on his historical perl'ormances, it \V:'S ill depicting the prat:oral slot gentle, and the expression of sweet natlic,s and the tender (11(11 j' that he ex-. celled ; and his ffilue will be identhied with the beituthill and romantic rather than the severe and clas• style of art. Wo have a VIVid recol- lection of It charunit.:.: little picture of "Jacob and his Sons," exhibited a few years ago at the British Institution : it embodied the spirit of the Patriarchal age with a r eling; akin to that of Air Homo, hut in a more elevated style of' design. I us and the Satyrs" was a subject con- genial to his iniagiamloa and elegant taste. Indeed, his fancy GAG-, rally took the directl(m of the picturesque ideal ; whieh is proved by his choice of' such stil.jobas as the "Rape of Proserpine," the " Rape of Canstocile," &c. One great mffit his pictures possess, and it stamps the sterling quality of his art, is the harmony of thought that pervades his works: wildo the expression of el);Iracter or emotion falls short of doe intensity, there is a unity of purilese manifest in the whole, that prOdUCCs IlliprusSioll ill accordance with the subject. if not adequate to its demands ; an excellence that attests the presence of the salt of art—earnestness of intention. There is »o impertinent display of dexterity Or mannerism in the paintings of I IILTON : the sub-
jed predominates, III■t execution.
Fewer of Illurox's pictures have been engraved than of most artists of celebrity ; but he Wits DO trader carrying his wares to market, and their tin/01011A ve merits Were not recognized as they deserved either by the public or the publishers-- we hardly know of one fine print from a large piefitre of 1ui, Early in his career he Ina le a set ()I' beautiful designs l'or an edition or the Micro). and Citizen of' the 11"abl, published by TAILOI■ and IlEssry ; fur wIlieh firm also he sketched the pretty fromispice(s to Miss TA vi.(m's stories : the last are sepia drawings, and, slight as they are, betray a graeatil style; but the lirst-mentinned are eNqui,itely finished oil-paint it go, in which character is well developed: the illustrations of M,tcn t;Nzi s:s stories in the Mirror express the 3)1(11105 of the author with sympathetic ffieling. It is to be regretted that Ilwrox's talents as a designer were not more frequently exercised oa " book illustrations ;" It huntlde sphere for the display of talent, but one in which STuritairo—a kindred spirit with the greatest geniuses— earned his best laurels. Though Hum( ix declined painting portraits as a profession, Ids friends—in particular, Mr. TAYLOR the Publitsnterkr—a". possess some admirable likenesses by him : among the most re ble, are the portraits of two young poets, 30I IN KEATS and JOHN CLARE; in which the intellectual expression of the individuals is de• picted with lived)' truth. We eatillOt elOSe thiS insufficient tribute to the memory of a great painter and 11 good man, without urging upon the Academicians the obvitms propriety of limning an exhibition of the works of their de- ceased brother, as a testimony to his genius, that can never be Si) appro. priately afforded as befins. his place is filled up in their body. We urged this duly in the case of SToTilann, but in vain. It is the custom, that the works of SIleeeSSiYe PreSidelltS shall be collectively exhibited; and the interest excited in the publie mind by a display of the pictures of REYNOLDS, WEST, :111(1 I.:mot:N(2E, shows that these displays keep alive the feeling for British art in the country. A ii exhibition of' the works of StroTilatio, NoicriicoTE, and Ilif,Tox--;:y, and of IlmaanEY too—wonld be It high gratification : and, witholo wishing to disturb with a harsh expression the regretful feeling for the loss of one of the worthies of art, we must say, that unless some such step be taken, due respect will not have been paid to honoured merit or to the general ap- preciation of it in the public mind. If no precedent exists, it is fit one should be established. We trust the Directors of the British lustitu- tion will take this matter into their consideration. Such a proceeding might do something towards stimulating the Government to the to 10no* neglected duty of forming a National Gallery of British Art, where the best works of all the painters of eminence, and fine produc- tions of less distittguishod names, might be arranged in order of time. Hundreds of pounds would suffice for purchasing these works, where thousands are required for procuring questionable and tampered pic- tures by- the Old Masters ; and the prospect of a place in the National Museum would be an incentive to artists to excel. There are scattered among the dealers beautiful works of STOTDARD—in particular, "Ja- cob's Dream," in the possession of Mr. WurrE, of Princes Street,
Hanover Square, and the "Death of Nelson," in the care of Mr. TIF- FIN, West Strand-that would adorn any gallery : the grace and sweet- ness of the angels in the former are scarcely excelled by RAFFAELLE ; and the colouring, of course, is brilliant. STOTHARD is scarcely known as a colourist to the present generation of picture-seers ; though his charming illustrations to the poems of Scorr, BYRON, and ROGERS, and to Robinson Crusoe, have made his merits as a designer known to the public : but his drawing is so defective that the magic of his co- louring is required to veil the imperfections ; and the mannerism result- ing from this defect makes allowance for it necessary in order to appreciate the fine qualities, that more or less are visible in every ema- nation, even the feeblest, of his elegant fancy.
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