PANOB nit t OF NEW ZEALAND.
At a room in the house formerly occupied by Miss Linwood in Lei- meter Square is exhibited a moving panorama, representing several views in the neighbourhood of Port Nicholson and the Hutt. It is painted from drawings made on the spot by Mr. S. Brees, late principal engineer and surveyor to the New Zealand Company. 1)o picture is con- tinuous, but it does E resent a continuous route ; for the spec-
, fap.0 is at times suppo turn ro ping an am •theatric
pan p...zzein,- te-wstlirrount CN ea i one spo to ano cr at sonic distance. Although this violates tualdtcr_azo ■ (•• fact, it enables the stationary tourist to see a far prefer vane of cha- of importantsi es ELL fhc
e picture must not be judged as a work of art ; and even such as it is, no justice is done to it by the arrangements, which violate the com- monest rules in setting forth paintings. It is executed in some sort of opaque colour, like distemper ; which seems to have proved not very ma- nageable to the artist : the foreground wanta force, the background wants gradation, and the general spread of colour is too positive and too even in tone. The execution is rough. The effect is much like that of a coloured engraving, without the slightest approach to illusion. But some easy
corrections in the disposal of the room would set off the painting far Irk- ter than it is : the lamp at the pianoforte, which is used to enliven the intervals of the oral description, should be hidden from the eye of the spectator; the window-shutters should be more effectually blocked up.. The calico for the hangings is not only a poverty-stricken material, but being glazed, its folds catch the light, and multiply the detrimental number of gleams. What with the lamp on the left, the strips of daylight on the right, and the dashes of reflection on the frame of the hangings, the painting looks far more dead and dull than it would if it reflected the only brilliant light and were surrounded by a dark absorbent surface.
Although the pictorial effect is thus deficient, the work is executed with quite enough of artistic skill and feeling to convey a vivid impression of the original ; and wo understand, by a concurrence of competent evidence,
1:11a • !st: hioal informed°. the that the portraiture of the country is strielly_fiUthfuLanramad aceinaurayt.io_va.Asal any that has a ; an 7. a su. ect is one that should possess a pecu.- r , n a miresession at the
. • /MeV counterpoisegeogap counterpart. early
area of Great Britain, several degrees less distant from the Equator, further from any continent, diversified by far higher mountains, New Zealand combines striking differences with a more striking resemblance it presents a combination of English scenery with that of Southern Eu- rope and the Tropics. Where the forest and the fern have been cleared away, you see the green grass of England, and the gentler hills suggest many comparisons with the most beautiful park-land ; again, you see hills like those of the Scottish border ; in the distance the hills rise still higher, like those of the Appenines. Fresh water abounds at every turn, and the magnificent harbour of Port Nicholson is only a type of New Zealand havens. Fertility, ample pastoral and agricultural wealth, a highly mari- time disposition-of land, such are the characteristics of the view : you sm at once what all travellers mean when they call New Zealand "the Britain of the South " : it is so—the nation that possesses it must be the English of the South.
Mr. Brees explains the picture with a very unaffected and intelligent account of its leading features. Throughout the settlements there is one point of peculiar interest, in the number of places which are the abodes of enterprising colonists personally known in this country : you see England planted in the wilderness, and by settlers whom you know. And the colonists are exhibited to you in their daily life ; also the Natives, in the renowned Piton° pah, or mingling with the Whites. The English seem to aboe'cd in horses. The men's costume is a picturesque adaptation of the English ; the ladies being more servile in their adhesion to Regent Street. The Anglo-Centaur, a man and horse, must have astonished the Natives as much as Lord Byron did the Venetians ; but the monster seems to have become common enough to familiarize itself to the Maori mind. •
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