FINE ARTS.

THE CARTOONS AND FRESCOES IN WESTMINSTER HALL. WESTAIIN:3-LR HALL is now for the third time converted into a place of exhibition for the works of British artists, candidates for employment by

the Royal Commission in adorning the new Houses of Parliament. The object of preceding competitions was to ascertain if there be talent enough in the country of a kind fit for fresco-painting; and the present, we pre- stune, will determine what artists are to be employed to fill the six arched compartments appropriated to frescoes in the House of Lords. Six sub- jects were chosen by the Commissioners, and as many painters appointed to execute designs of them; for which 4001. each were to be paid, whether they were approved of or not. The Commissioners reserved to them- selves the right of rejecting these designs, and of preferring those of other artists: therefore the subjects were thrown open to general competition; and three premiums of 2001. each were offered for the best additional designs.

The subjects selected were Religion, Justice, and Chivalry; and the three following historical incidents, exemplifying the relation of the Sovereign to the Church, the Law, and the State,—namely, The Baptism of Ethelbert; Prince Henry, afterwards Henry the Fifth, acknowledging the Authority of Chief Justice Gascoigne; and Edward the Black Prince Receiving the Order of the Garter from Edward the Third. The six artists commissioned were Charles West Cope, A.R.A., William Dyce, John Callcott Horsley, Daniel MacRae, RA., Richard Redgrave, A.R.A., and William Cave Thomas. Thirty others have competed; and the three premiums are awarded to Edward Armitage—who obtained one of the three highest prizes in the first competition—J. Noel Paton junior, and John Tenniel junior, both new names in art

Each design comprises a cartoon the size of the compartments—nine feet three inches wide by sixteen feet high; a small sketch in colours, showing the intended pictorial effect; and a fresco painting of a head or figure, the full size, to prove the artist's ability to work in this medium. The thirty-six cartoons, shaped like Gothic windows, are placed at regular intervals, with their accompanying sketches and frescoes near them; and they cover the inner space enclosed, without too much crowding. A double row of statues, thirty in number, extends down the middle of the hall. This combination of drawings, paintings, and sculpture, has a varied and striking effect; and the ample space and regularity of arrangement conduce to an agreeable impression.

The display this year is more select than previous ones; and in other respects it is of an improved character. On the whole, it is creditable to the competitors, all circumstances considered: though there is nothing great or original, there is much to commend. The chosen six have justified the preference of the Commissioners, inasmuch as their designs are, with scarcely an exception, the best. The three premiums, also, are justly . awarded. That the subjects given have been treated with adequate dig- nity and power, cannot be affirmed. : in no instance has a designer risen to the height of his argument. The conceptions are deficient in vigour, els • vation, and animated character. Compared with the glowing fervour and exalted spirit of the great Italian masters, they are tame and commonplace as schoolboy's themes; and, judging them on the ground of their own merits alone, they fall short of the demands of the subject both in idea and execution. The endeavour is often earnest and well-meant ; but grasp of mind and grandeur of style are wanting. The purpose may be good, but the aim is neither lofty nor direct. It would appear as if the designers were mistrustful of their own powers, and had sought aid from other sources; such an absence is there of vitality and freshness, and a prevalence of con- ventional treatment. The imitation of various foreign styles is so strong that one would suppose German and French artists had been suffered to compete. The English qualities most conspicuous are vagueness of ex- pression and fbebleness of design. The compositions are mostly defective; being either bald and meagre on the one hand, or crowded and confused on the other; while the leading lines want that firm basis and balance of parts essential to stability. The six commissioned artists are almost the only ones who have attempted to give to their compositions that architectonic character essential to pictures forming component parts of an architectural, design; and the introduction of columns, steps, and arches, does more for their pictures in this respect than the disposition of groups and figures. The effects of chiaroscuro and colour—for which the British school has 14, reputation in small works—are crude, and wanting in fulness and simpli, city : the graver style of colouring is made monotonous and dull, and the more ornate has none of the richness and variety that distinguish splendour from gaudiness. The tints of the frescoes are heavy and opaque—either fiery hot or leaden cold; with shadows dense and dark: the purity and lu- minous brightness of fresco are not attained. Throughout the whole pro- cess of designing and painting, in short, the deplorably defective state of artistic education in this country is exemplified, in the neglect of established principles of art, and the imitation of foreign mannerisms on the part of those who have been driven to study abroad by the want of sufficient op- portunities and good teaching at home.

The application of these strictures will be obvious on an attentive ex- amination of the works themselves; though perhaps only partially evident in a cursory notice of the principal designs, to which we are limited.

Maclise's cartoon of The Spirit of Chivalry is powerfully drawn and beautifully executed: its vigour and finish are extraordinary. But it an- bodies the outward show of chivalry rather than its spirit—its accessories, not its attributes. Chivalry is personified by a female in statuesque drapery; around and beneath whom are grouped knights and ladies, and the votaries of religion, art, science, poetry, and music. Each appears indif- ferent or superior to the other: the knight looks supercilious; the poet casts a scornful glance at the bard below him; and the troubadour strikes his guitar with happy heedlessness. There is no unity of sentiment in the group, no keeping in the composition: a passion-flower in one corner is as prominent as the face of the central figure. The eye finds no place

of rest in the crowd of objects that distract the attention. The coloured sketch is still more confusing and cutting by its metallic glitter: its effect at a distance would be dazzling and unintelligible.

Religion, by Horsley, is the very reverse: its parts are few and simple- almost to baldness; architectural features predominate; and the treat-

ment is broad and large. The principal figure is a monarch, covered with a velvet robe falling in ample folds, devoutly kneeling before an altar on which is placed open a book inscribed " His Word "; the action of his

hands indicates a veneration of the sacred volume above his crown, which he has put aside. Other kneeling figures are also visible on the opposite sides of two massive columns; and above them appear two angels in glory, one bearing a cross. The sentiment is pure, if not exalted: but the mortal - heads are either in shadow or seen in profile, and the angelic forma are comparatively small; thus the principal masses are composed of drapery

and architecture. • The colouring of the fresco is cold, dull, and opaque, especially in the shadows.

Justice, as represented by Mr. Thomas, looks more like Vengeance; the principal figure being a winged minister of punishment, and the lower and

Most prominent group composed of personifications of vice and crime. The repulsive aspect of the design is heightened by a grim, gloomy, rigid Ger- man mannerism, more suited to sculpture than painting, and not only stiff but unimpressive. The colouring of the fresco is crude and harsh, and the pictorial effect feeble and flat. Three such different pictures as these would never do to go together. Yet this must be the case if they are painted in the House of Lords; the three compartments at each end of the chamber being divided only by clustered shafts, like the mullions of a window. The frescoes that fill these spaces should harmonize in style of drawing and tone of colouring: the three ought almost to be the work of one mind, and form portions of one grand whole. The historical incidents intended to be placed opposite these allegories are more interesting; because, instead of dealing with abstractions, the artists have to depict human beings in action. The investiture of the Lack Prince with the Order of the Garter is, however, but a lifeless ceremony; and Mr. Cope has not sufficiently supplied the want of animation and in- terest in the scene from the resources of art. The Prince is a comely and gallant youth, standing in a graceful posture; but he looks as passive as though he were undergoing measurement for a pair of boots; seeming to pay no heed either to the "charge" read to him by the monk or to the significant gesture of his father. Nevertheless, there is character in this design; and the figures are drawn with spirit and elegance. Mr. Cope would have done better justice to a more congenial subject.

Redgrave has sadly failed in his attempt to depict the submission of Prince Henry to the authority of Chief Justice Gascoigne. The Judge is

an ignoble-looking person, in the undignified attitude of an angry man

starting up with clenched fist, to avenge an insult offered to himself; instead of exhibiting the imperturbable calmness of authority rising supe- rior to personal resentment, and punishing the offender only to vindicate the majesty of the law. The Prince looks modestly submissive, but not awed or abashed; and he is in the act of leaving the court before his sen- tence has passed the Judge's lips. There is nothing in his manner or in the looks of the spectators implying the commission of any outrage, or the termination of an extraordinary scene. The composition is tame, the heads are lumpish and characterless, and the figures look like inflated suits of clothes. The effect of the coloured sketch is heavy, and the fresco is fiat and dingy.

The Baptism of Etherbert, by William Dyce, is the most lively picture and the cleverest composition of all. It is in the style of the early Floren-

tine schools—a much better model than the modern French or German school: the refinement and simplicity of the painters of that period are successfully emulated. The design is full of figures, yet it is not crowded; and the architectural lines of the composition, though distinctly marked, are subordinate to the groups. The King—wearing his crown, but naked except a cloth round his loins—kneels on the pavement before the font, surrounded by priests administering the rite; with the Queen and her ladies looking on. In the background is a gallery; which, together with the steps leading to it, is filled with spectators. The variety of action and character in the figures—old men and women with infants in their arms mingling in the throng—gives vivacity to the mass. The graceful forms of the women in the foreground relieve the monotony of old men in church vestments, and contrast with the naked form of the kneeling monarch ; who, by the by, has a mean and abject air, better suited to an act of penance than the administration of baptism. The colouring is vivid but not gaudy; and the only objection to the fresco is its minuteness of detail.

Of the three designs for which premiums have been given, An Allegory of Justice, by J. Tenniel junior, is the best. The cartoon is only in out-

line, but the drawing and composition are beautiful; and the coloured sketch exhibits refinement of feeling and skilful grouping. The fresco, too, is admirable for vigour and freedom, though the tone of colour is cold.

The figure of Justice is insignificant and theatrical—too much like a prima donna; but the sentiment of the subject is dramatically expressed in the looks of the suppliants.

There is very little of the true " Spirit of Religion" in the cartoon by Mr. Armitage—which is thoroughly French in style and sentiment; or in that by Mr. Paton—an elaborate composition with nudities of the Westall stamp figuring in the centre. But the cleverness of the drawing, in both, merited distinction, in default of qualities of a higher kind in any of the other designs.

The display of Sculpture is not very remarkable. The best statues have been seen before; with the exception of a beautiful female figure by

Thomas Earle, called Sin Triumphant. The graceful predominates; the grand is wanting. A statue of Shakspere, by John Bell, is not even true to the authentic effigies of the poet; and the posture is not happy or characteristic. A man with such a massive head as Shakspere's would not be given to attitudinizing, though a player.

But in viewing this collection of works of art, especially with reference to the capabilities of native artists to adorn the new Houses of Parliament, it should be borne in mind that these are mostly the productions of young men, some of them for the first time essaying the grand style. There are others in the background—tyros and veterans both—from whom greater things may be looked for. There is talent and ability enough in the coun- try, worthy to be employed on a national monument of art; but the development of artistic power is gradual.