FINE ARTS.
BRITISH INSTITUTION.
THIS once attractive exhibition opened on Monday, with a collection of the works of living artists, as poor as could well be got together to include such names as appear in the catalogue : the exceptions to this remark are so few, that they serve to enforce rather than qualify its application. Not a single picture of importance by any painter of eminence but lots Leen exhibited before ; including EASTLAKE'S Christ Blessing Little Children, 1\l'enses liobin Hood, HART'S Lady ,Jana Grey, TURN En's Mercury and Argus, LANCE'S Gil Bias in the Cavern, CHARLES LAM/SEE:ICS 'if to Jew's House, &c. EDWIN LANDSEER, who was used to stock this gallery with deer and dogs like a baron's hall, this year only sends a fragmentary sketch of a Young Roebuck and Rough !founds, (10 that he may have dashed off in a morning ; and ETTY'S contribution (221) might have been withheld without any loss either to his reputation or the exhibition—it certainly belies the motto whiels is its title—"Bright-eyed Fancy hovering o'er even MACLISE, prolific as is his pencil, has not cared to do. snore than put a musk to a study of armour, introducing a bit of red velvet, with a fresh-washed neck above it, to suggest the incident of a knight bidding adieu to his lady-love, and calling it Farewell, (90.) Had these guished artists been asked to contribute some trifling performance to e casual show got up on the spur of the moment, they could not have done less. We blame not them, however, nor others who withhold their works altogether : far from it—the blame rests with those whose business it is to see that the exhibition is fairly and honourably me. naged, and who neglect this important duty. The directors of the British Institution cannot be blind to the gradual falling-off of both the annual exhibitions at this gallery—that of the old masters as well us of the modern artists; nor are they ignorant af the cause. They refuse to remedy the evils complained of; and on them, therefore, rests the responsibility of suffering this once flourish. ing institution to fall to decay, and its beneficial influence on the fist arts of the country to decline. We have on former occasions adverted to the notorious mismanagement of this exhibition; and we now this. miss the subject, with observing that every visitor of taste and discernment will have back-breaking evidence of the peculiar method of arrangement adopted at this gallery, by which many attractive pictures are hung either below the line of the eye or above the reach of sight. Among the very few DESIGNS of merit that tell a story, the most re. markable, independently of the circumstance of its being the first production of a youth of seventeen, is The Soldier Defeated-1nterior if a Cafe :Normandy, (297,) by F. GOODALL, a son of the eminent engraver: not only are the drawing, composition, and colouring masterly, but the characters are well discriminated, and the incident is set forth with simplicity and truth. A drummer of French infantry, accoutred for the march, has entered a cabaret, and engaged in a game of draughts with the host, which he has lost ; and. the look and action of the old man, who, with his finger on the winning-point, exultingly appeals to his discomfited adversary, are very expressive : the lookers-on share his glee; and one of them; a pretty paysanne in sabots, hands a tray of glasses filled with eau-de-vie, for which the loser probably will have to pay. The painting is bold and firm ; the costumes of the soldier, postilion, &c. are well studied ; and the various little accessories denoting the locality are introduced with tact and skill: the one thing wanting is variety of texture, which is essential to the perfection of this class of subjects ; for where " still-life" and costumes are principal ingredients in a picture, every object should appear of its proper surface and substance, as in the Dutch paintings. Moreover, attention. to these points is the way to avoid mannerism, the bane of many a promising artist. There is another clever little picture by the some hand, Ent:* dans ! Eylise, (2)—a peasant ,and her two children entering some old Norman church : the little girl standing on tiptoe to dip her finger in the holy water, is a pretty trait of nature ; but the smirking looks of the mother and the boy are rather unmeaning : the poor old couple of beggars at the door are admirably sketched. From such juvenile efforts we augur great results, if the young painter do justice to his extraordinary talent by opening his eyes to stature and shutting his ears to flattery. Another name new to us, R. DADD, IS appended to a bold though unsuccessful attempt to depict the Scene from Hamkt, (2050 where the Ghost enters while Hamlet is remonstrating with his mother : the apparition is too near to be impressive, and the pictorial means by which its insubstantiality is represented are too evident ; Hamlet, moreover, is neither awe-struck nor deeply affected; hut the mingled anguish and astonishment in the face of his soother are powerfully expressed. The painting is excellent, and so much in the style of DOUGLAS COWPERwho, poor fellow ! died just when his "greatness was a-ripening"— that we at first took it to be a posthumous work of his.
NV. SIMSON, a young painter of great power and considerable promise, is not realizing the expectations formed of bins : Isis picture 'AA Wounded Guerilla, with his Comrades (blending the Outer Wall of a Franciscan COnCelti, (153,) wants the soul of art, character and expression; the wounded man shows no signs of pain in Isis face, and his comrades look as cool and unconcerned as if they were shooting at a mark : the execution is forcible, but somewhat coarse. The Visit of Buce«ccio to Tetrarch, at Argua, (18,) by J. PARTRIDGE, is a carefullypainted "interior with figures," and may represent correctly enough Petrarch's house, which still exists ; but the figures certainly convey no idea of the illustrative characters. A. CHISHOLM has attempted, and with no better success, (vide 40;,) to picture SHAKSPERE and some of his brother dramatists in both cases there are portraits to guide the painters, but they cannot even give life, much less characteristic expression to the faces. We must pass over the comic subjects of CsderEn, FRASER, KID, POOLE, Buss, Caosvmsv, and Duisa!, till another opportunity ; but we cannot refrain from enjoying another laugh at SIDNEY COOPER'S Stolen Horse, (93); the askance look of whose rider proclaims him guilty, and not only the dog but the horse also cast furtive glances, as if conscious of the theft.
The PORTRAITS and STuntEs of CHARACTER are few, and not very remarkable. The most striking are a sweet animated Mimic face by Ronovimr„ (144,) a vigorous head of an old soldier in armour—The Free Compri:dim, (13-b.) Icy J. M. LEIGH ; two Sisters, (e,) by Mrs. CAR. PESTER ; and last and best of all, A Neapolitan Preit-G i (ill,) by Issitsee, which for harmony of colour, solidity, and force of handling, and depth and purity of tone, is equal to the great masters of old; the chasteness and sobriety of the hues are in accordance with the repose and simplicity of the subject, and rebuke the gaudy and flimsy daubs that abound here.
L INDSCAPE and MARINE SCENES constitute the predominant features of' the display. The largest and most elaborate performance of thus class is by a foreigner ; mid as such we give it precedence. View in the Higher Swiss Alps, (Wry a Sturm, (MO by A. CALAME, gives a vivid idea of the awful scene of desolation, but the element of grandeur is wanting : the valley strewn with fragnsents of rock and splinters of fir-trees, that choke the bed of the stream—the barren sides of the mountains looking more gloomy beneath the yet lowering clouds that partially obscure the snow-capped semi nits of the Alps—is depicted. with minute fidelity, as if' from the image of' a camera lucida ; but the rigid, petite style in which all the details arc defined, utterly destroys the effect of vastness : rocks are dwarfed to pebbles, firs to fernonountains to hills, and the torrent to a rivulet. The artist has proceeded on a false principle, and the very pains he has taken to realize the scene
have defeated his aim. A picture, to be successful, should impress the fancy in a similar manner to the reality, which this certainly does not and for this reason—the eye in beholding a scene so vast and sublime would not take cognizance of such trivial details as the texture of the bark of the trees, the fracture of their stems, or the form and colour of the fragment of rocks ; it would see the scene in the mass, the atmospheric effect predominating over all. Now M. CALAME has finished every thing on a scale only suitable to objects close to the eye, which would consequently have a very limited scope of vision ; it could not take in the whole of a scene like this, except from such a distance as would render the minute details here introduced, not only impertinent, but actually invisible. SALVATOR Rosa was fond of painting the splintered stem of a tree in his wild landscapes ; and he wrought with great elaboration, and made out the branches of' his trees distinctly ; but he represented the local characteristics as they would appear to the eye in nature, by generalizing the petty details, and delineating the characteristic points, with a large and free touch. EDWIN LANDSEER, who is inimitable for the actuality with which he indicates every little point of nature, would paint a rabbit-hole within arm's length, and in miniature size, with greater boldness of handling.
The landscapes of LEE and CRESWICK, and the marine pictures of EDWARD COOKE are the chief attractions of the gallery. LEE, we are glad to perceive, is taking pains to get rid of the cold and hard manner that detracted from the truth and pleasing effect of his imitations of grass and foliage : he seems to have taken a hint from CRESWICK in a charmino. little Wood Scene, (22,) where the sprays of the interlacing boughs are flexile, and the leaves are more tenderly indicated ; the tone of colour, too, is warns and bright, without destroying the fresh, cool, shady aspect of the shelter. His View from St. George's Hill, looking towards Windsor, (149), is forcibly and freely painted; and the foreground, with the mole-catcher taking up his snare, and the dog scaring the crows, gives life and reality to the undulating lines of the expansive landscape: the foliage embrowned with the first tints of autumn, the meadows empurpled with bloom, and the castle rising white in the distance, with a fresh clouded sky overhead, checquering with shifting shades the verdurous scene, make up a picture the truth and beauty of which will delight all lovers of English prospects : we esteem it as the artist's chefd'teuvre. In his Woodcutters, the bole and fragments of root of the fallen beech are too slightly indicated for foreground objects, and the trees in the middle distance consequently come too forward. CRESWICK has sketched with a full free pencil another of those delicious shady avenues, lit up by spots of emerald light from the sun's rays piercing the thick foliage : it is a yew-walk At Haddon, (33,)—the level houghs stretching across form an almost impervious shelter, but the bright blue of a summer sky is visible here and there, and the turf and dark boughs are slightly burnished with radiance: it is truly "a place of whispering green for lovers made." He has two larger pictures of extended prospects, more highly finished ; one, a road scene Near Ashyton, Derbyshire, (210,) with a group of hedge-row trees bordering a sloping corn-field, and a runnel of water giving freshness to the summer glow—a pretty bit of English pastoral ; the other showing The Mouth of Watertbrd River, (273,) with a rich foreground of blooming heath, dappled with sun-spots' and a couple of firs relieved against the cloudy sky and distant beach: the aerial perspective is beautifully managed.
Before leaving the land, we must dwell a short space on this sweet little rural spot, Loch on the Medway, (1190 by JUTSUM; where the bright sunlight of early summer enlivens the fresh green of the young leaves, and gives warmth to the fleecy clouds that seem to shift across the breezy distance ; the colours of the barge reflected in the stream, the back-water flowing over the slope, and the horses standing in the light, give vivacity to the scene without disturbing its repose: the skilful blending of warns hues with the greens of the grass and leaves, and the grays of the -wall and towing-path, and the union of freedom and finish in the handling, together with the delicate perception of nature Shown in composition and atmospheric effects, lead us to expect the artist may become an English Honnoia, if he pursue this course, EnwAnn COOKE, in addition to two coast-views off Calais and Boulogne, (391 and 4060 and two beach-scenes at Scheveling, (174 and 188,) finished with the elaborate minuteness and broad effect of his former works, exhibits two sea-pieces of greater dimensions, and in a larger and more powerful style, combined with an equal degree of finish. We congratulate him on having left the shore, and launched out to sea with a wider stretch of canvass and a bolder hand; his success is complete. Calais Pier—Sloop returning to Port, (44,) makes one feel the bustle and movement of the scene, as the little bark dashes into the harbour, the breeze filling her sails and straining: her cordage, and her pennant fluttering in the gale. The execution is masterly ; the long perspective of the pier and the foreshortening of the hull of the sloop are admirable, and in every point the nautical knowledge of the artist appears perfect: the buoyancy with which the vessel and the boat in tow float on the wave, both in this picture and its pendant, a Trourille Fishing-boat in a Thveze, (71,) gives an appearance of fluctuating motion to the wave, making its action fluent, though not fluid in its substance,—for the only t'eilt of these two fine sea-pieces is, that the water wants liquid depth and transparency, ClIAMISERS has a spirited sketch of &heeding Beach at Flood-tide, with fishing-boats getting ready for sea (240). We also noticed among other coast-views, two by an artist whose name we do not remember to have seen before, Hump. LA:cc:wren, (126 and 154,) that evince talent ; but they are hung too high for us to determine its degree. In Landscape Architecture, lien.i.AND is the only exhibitor of mark : his two views in Venice, (294 and 359,) are rich in local colour, but Slight and hasty in execution.
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