ART.
THE ACADEMY.—I.
Two pictures stand out from the mass in the present Exhibi- tion, and by the largeness of their conception and complete- ness of their carrying out exercise a dwarfing influence on most of the other works : these are Mr. Sargent's great portrait group and Mr. Abbey's historical picture. Notable is the way in which the flashy, would-be-clever portraits and the merely realistic pictures shrivel up before these two works, in which vigorous mind and unerring hand have united harmoniously.
It is possible to conceive a finer composition than Mr. Sargent's Lady Eleho, Mrs. Adeane, and Mrs. Tennant (No. 213). The complete division of the picture into light and dark sets one questioning a little. On a sofa sit three ladies in white—roughly speaking these fill the lower half of the canvas—while behind them is a dark room with pictures hanging on the wall. The picture is very large, and the artist has risen to the occasion and avoided minor fascina- tions and subtleties; choosing rather to be impressive than clever. Never has Mr. Sargent produced a finer harmony of colour, and yet there is very little positive colour anywhere. Rich, though indefinite hues melt into cne another. On looking round the walls of this room or of any other in the Exhibition, the eye is assailed by reds, blues, and yellows of the most violent and blatant kind. Many of the painters seem to think that if they use their paint bright enough they will earn the praise of colourists. They could not err more greatly. To temper the sombre colours of Mr. Sargent's background requires knowledge, and skill, and a colour faculty, qualities which are not called into play when the painter merely accumu- lates cobalt, cadmium, and vermilion side by side upon the canvas. In Mr. Sargent's canvas there is a very interesting train of thought started by the picture seen banging on the wall behind the three ladies. It is the famous portrait of Mrs. Percy Wyndham—the mother of Mr. Sargent's sitters—by Mr. Watts. There is some- thing about the way this picture is placed centrally in the background, and in the touch of sunlight on the frame, that seems to suggest the younger painter's appreciation of a masterpiece. Very interesting, too, it is to see the translation of Mr. Watts's work into the language of Mr. Sargent. As we should expect, there is an added suppleness in the figure and a loss of monumental dignity. In writing of Mr. Sargent's work at the New Gallery stress was laid upon his enormous powers of execution ; in the present instance these powers are used to the full, and with less effect of mere bravura than is sometimes the case. This noble piece of portraiture has admirable qualities of characterisation. The figures are instinct with individual life, the faces are animated without spoiling the harmony of the general effect, and the central figure is of great beauty.
Mr. Abbey has painted a large picture of The Trial of Queen A. atherine (No. 96). The vigour of the realisation of the scene is wonderful, though the decorative effect is never allowed to suffer from pedantic adherence to realistic effects. It is true that Mr. Abbey paints with keen enjoyment the
gorgeous dresses of Henry VIII. and his courtiers, but he is a very great deal more than a costume painter. Mr. Abbey has seldom used his great mastery over intricate composition more successfully than in the present instance. The figures —and there must be nearly fifty—are so skilfully grouped that perfect clearness is secured at the same time that the movement and stir of the crowd of people is given. Besides its artistic qualities the picture is full of historical sugges- tion; Henry VIII. on his throne towers over the ecclesiastics grouped round Wolsey's chair, while one of the King's Beef- eaters stands on the tomb of a Bishop let into the pavement. The picture is lighted by light that comes partly througli stained-glass windows, and which is broken by the architec- ture of the building in which the trial takes place. One of the most fascinating details is the effect produced by the polished steel halberds reflecting cold light, against the gorgeous hues of the stained glass. The artist has contrasted his groups of figures sharply and with excellent effect. The gaily dressed followers of Cardinal Wolsey, slim Renaissance pages, are balanced by the King's stalwart Beefeaters and halberd-bearers. Between these groups, though further in, are the lawyers in sombre hues. These groups make the setting for the real actors in the drama,—the King on his throne, and facing him the Queen, who has fallen on her knees beside her chair. Both these figures are admirably characterised ; they are dramatic without being stagey. The colour of the King's dress is among Mr. Abbey's happiest imaginings,—gold powdered over with a rosy bloom is as near as one can get to it in words. This painter has a happy power of carrying conviction as to the reality of the scene he shows us, while at the same time remaining faithful to purely decorative impulses. The figures are of flesh and blood like ourselves, but the heraldic atmosphere and the gorgeous dresses bring home to us the fact that their manners were different. About the whole work there is an air of bigness and strength that is infinitely delightful in an Exhibition so largely given over to the trivial and the commonplace.
It has been said above that Mr. Abbey's work is neither stagey nor a costume picture. To realise our meaning by contrast it is only needful to turn to Mr. Frank Dicksee's The Two Crowns (No. 167). There is an absolute unreality about the people ; they never existed for themselves, but only for the sake of their garments and gold armour. This last is marvellously painted, but the realism is carried to the extent of being a trick, the eye being deceived into the belief that the fingers could pick off the projecting pieces. This is unreal realism. The effect pro- duced is of electric light turned on to an actor.
Mr. Orchardson has painted a Royal group, but only with indifferent success. This artist has on several occasions painted fine portraits. It is therefore disappointing that the picture of the Queen should be so uninteresting, when at last an artist has been called to paint her Majesty. The picture is entitled Windsor Castle, 1899: Portraits (No. 143). The Queen, sitting, is being offered a bunch of roses by the little son of the Duke of York, who stands in front of his father and the Prince of Wales. The child is the only one of the group who seems alive ; the other figures seem little more than abstractions, and the arrangement of the picture is formal and common- place.
A few years ago the fashion in painting set in the direction of using strong colour and iridescent hues. This was a relief after the blackness of the so-called Newlyn school. Now we long for the sober tones again, for large expanses of crude colour of every shade plaster the walls. Room after room assaults the eye with violent chromatic discords. Some of the chief offenders are the artists who paint effects of sunlight with an arbitrary selection of orange and violet,—e.g., Mr. Walter West in The Pillion (No. 250) and Mr. F. Hall in An Autumn Evening (No. 905). In both these pictures a natural effect has been reduced to a formula of crude and staring colour, which has been applied without remorse. The effect is not in the least decorative, and cannot be excused on the ground of truth.
The consideration of the landscapes must be left for another article. Here it can only be said that they are dis- appointing, falling below even the modest standard of recent
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