The Press. — London, England, 1854-05-20 00:00:00

MAY 20, 1854. seems to "menace strife," whereas he died with words of piety and not of defiance on his lips. His head, supported on the bedframe, takes from the stiffness of death that the rest of the figure suggests, and is hardly, we should think, true to nature. It is a fault in composition that no part of the right arm is visible. The heads of the conspirators, though exquisitely painted, want expression, with the exception of that of the King, who enters the guilty apartment among the assassins with a countenance in which the satisfaction of gratified vengeance gives way to awe and terror. No. 135, " Hunting the Moufion in Africa," by M. Horace Vernet, Commander of the Legion of Honour. It is painful to mark the disimprovement• and failure of a former favourite. If this picture contains much of the spirit of the clever painter, we miss the fine tone of col,mring and striking effect we used to ad mire, his artistic knowledge, and aerial perspective. A.A., " The Patting," by the same painter. A subject and mode of treatment entirely new from the hands of this versatile artist. It has been surmised that an allusion is intended to a severe domestic loss sustained by the painter. The Genius of Death bears the departing spirit from the mourning survivor,who, bowed down by his grief, does not observe the signal of hope and comfort that is implied by the finger pointing to heaven. There is much to admire in this conception, and something, too, to criticise. The departed rising in bodily form from the bed is hardly consistent with allegorical conventionality : the tenant less clay should surely be left to the charge of sorrowing friends The robe of the ascending spirit is too uniformly white : the contrast is too violent: a little shading with•glazing colours would have increased the effect and harmonise better with the whole. No. 11, " Gulliver in the Isle of Giants—Micro scopic Studies from Nature in the Forest of Fon tainebleau," by M. F. 13iard, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. This picture is so singular, so large, and so overpowering, that it forces the attention which its merits could not perhaps claim. A study of weeds and wild flowers, amidst which wanders a man smaller than an insect, ready to be clutched by a gigantic hand that hovers above, is a subject so ill conceived and displeasing as no good execution could excuse, but which, we must observe, there is no good execution to bribe us to forget. No. 12, "The Interior of a Custom house," by the same artist, has the same defect of exaggeration. The subject might have given scope to much dramatic interest and great contrasts without any departure from truth and probability. The subject is a good one; several of the incidents are conceived with humour; but the attitudes and expression far over step "the modesty of nature." No. 45, " The Widow's Mite," by M. Dubuffe, another Knight of the Legion of Honour ! A simple and pretty picture, and among the best the collection contains. The widow, and the infant in her arms, are peculiarly happy. The two older children are less pleasing in attitude and expression. The sub ject is transferred to modern times : but has not the artist misconceived the lesson intended to he given ? The widow in the parable deprived herself of all she possessed and gave it to the poor. The lesson inculcated is one of self-denial. Had she been the mother of three children it would have been her duty to retain her contribution to supply their wants, whose claims were paramount even to those of the poor. Tenderness and expression are the principal merits of the picture. It is less happy in colour, and most deficient, we think, in breadth of effect. No. 117, "Lady and Lapdog;" No. 118, "The Footpath ; " No. 119, "The Concert; " No. 222, " Conversation ;" by M. A. E. Plassan. These works have been received with an amount of public approbation highly flattering to their author. One of them, " The Footpath," has been selected by her Majesty, and all have been purchased with a most gratifying rapidity. All belong to the same class of subject, all are painted with the same care and accu• racy ; the best we think is "The Concert," but all are deficient in strength of colouring and effect; and even the execution, neat as it is, Rants the spirit and freedom that Teni rs and Watteau could give to pic tures which they finishod like miniatures. The ex clusive use of opaque colours in M. Plassan's pictures deprives them of the light and transparent effect which constitutes the principal charm of the artists we have named and of those of their school. " La Blanchesseuse," and " The Young Sempstre is " (Nos. 60 and 81), by M. Jean Fauvelet, are both pic tures of the same class: both possess the same artless simplicity and the same careful execution—in neither is effect deficient. Nos. 97, "The Young Admiral," 98, " Fishermen on the Beach," and 09, "A Dutch Inn Scene," by M. Eugene Le Poittevin, are all pretty pictures, with much life, clever execution, and happy colouring : they remind us of the works of our own Collins, and are not perhaps inferior. "The Fisher men" is perhaps the best, the most agreeable in sub- ject, and with the largest share of the peculiar merits of the artist. No. 115, " The Prodigal Son," THE PRESS. by M. C. L. Muller—a picture of much importance and very careful execution. The parable is adapted to modern life, and the actors wear the gay and bril liant dresses of the sixteenth century. The prodigal himself is well conceived—his countenance and atti tude, expressive of voluptuous facility and gay indif ference, are happily rendered ; and his female companions, cajoling and interested, are well imagined to point the moral of the story. No. 25, " A Meadow with Cattle," by M. L Coignard, is very true to na ture : the cattle are dispersed over the plain with more regard to truth, perhaps, than to picturesque effect. The landscape is excellent, and we think the artist has judged well in sacrificing every other con sideration to truth. AAA, " Going to Market," by M. Troyon, is a very pretty picture : the sun behind the group Of peasants casts long shadows in front of them, and involves all intervening objects in a dazzling haze. r _Tu be euttlinued.l SOCIETY OF PAINTERS in WATER COLOURS. (Second Notice.] IT would be difficult to assign any precise limits to the licence which the painter claims to alter the features of a well-known scene so as to suit his immediate purpose, or to borrow well known objects in order to give reality and interest to ideal composi tions of his own. The example of the great land• scape-painters of old may be pleaded in favour of unbounded liberty in these respects ; but, in modern days, we venture to lay it down as the best practical rule that it is inexpedient to be "found out." It is a matter of fact that those compositions are least popular in which well-known objects are introduced in new combinations ; and the eye of the spectator is offended when the features of a scene familiar to his imagina tion are so changed as to alter its distinctive cha racter. In both cases we have been accustomed to associate certain objects with certain accessories; and to disturb this association gives the same dissatisfaction that is caused by the gross violation of historical truth in a work of fiction ; nor is this all, for whereas it would be the greatest triumph of the painter to leave it doubtful how far his landscape were a transcript of nature or the creation of his fancy, the spectator, before he has had time to examine the consistency and credibility of the composition, is informed at the first glance that it has no real existence. One thing at all events is clear. Whether the latitude against which we are arguing be conceded or not, the whole landscape must be consistent with itself : the laws of perspective must be observed, the relative size of objects must be regulated by their distance; and no improbability should provoke the " incredulus odi" of the critic. As an instance of the neglect of this obvious rule we may quote a very pretty drawing by Mr. M. Richardson—No. 116, " View on the Arno." The stone pines are out of proportion to the buildings, and both are out of proportion to the bridge ; nor is it possible to say on what part of the bank the whole group finds standing-room. Again, whether we consider the ruins of " The Temple of Vesta at Tivoli," by Mr. Carl Haag (No. 82), as a composition or a view from nature, we find it equally open to criticism. In front of the temple and its rocky basement one of Pinelli's waggons, drawn by a yoke of oxen, is speeding down the rock with as much probability as a coach and four might be represented winding its way up the face of Dover Cliff; and on the right are introduced the cypresses of Villa d'Este dimi nished to Lilliputian proportions, and growing, it is impossible to say where. On the whole, we think Mr. Haag's landscapes decidedly inferior to his figure-pieces. It is on the latter that we rest our hopes of his future excellence. We must again raise our feeble protest against the abuse of body colour. We do not deny that body colour affords great facilities—that in sketching it is often employed with great effect—and that a picture painted almost entirely in body colours is a very pleasing performance, as many of the works in the present exhibition abundantly prove ; but we do maintain that it is a different thing, and we ven ture to add an inferior thing, to a landscape painted with transparent colours. The fresh greens and rich transparent hues of foliage, the clear reflections and bright ripple of water, can never, we think, be fully rendered by the opaque plaster-looking dead ness of body colour. Nos. 16 and 199, " Views on the Conway," two very clever, slight drawings, by Mr. Branwhite, and distinguished by much feeling for nature, might better have been painted in oils at once, and thus at least have secured the vigour of one medium when they lose the transparency of the other. Again, in two very striking pictures by Mr. C. Smith, Nos. 61 end 27, the snow on the distant summits of the Alps, though the execution is ex tremely clever, is less truly rendered by opaque white than it might have been without this treacherous aid. It is a pleasing feature of the present exhibition that there is a considerable display of talent by the junior members of the society. Mr. Jackson's coast 475 scene, "Sunrise" (No. 50), is beautifully executed, and is true to nature. Mr. Burgess's architec tural studies are admirably drawn ; but he is some times monotonous in colour, as, for instance, in No. 104, "Interior of Porch at Chartres," and his reflected lights are often deficient, so that the shadows are heavy and unvaried. But to mention the many works which have given us pleasure would far exceed our limits, and the enumeration would be of no interest, as they are already familiar to the public, which has given the strongest practical proof of its approbation by pur chasing almost all of them. It may, perhaps, seem invidious, where there is so much to praise, to have sprinkled our paragraphs with so many (though we trust not severe) censures. We have taken the less pleasing part, because we think it needful that from time to time a warning voice should be raised against certain besetting sins which must be carefully guarded against by our water-colour painters if their exhibition is to main tain its present high ground. We cannot conclude without recommending our readers to visit also the New Water-colour Exhibition in Pall mall. It will be a disappointment to them to find no important picture by Mr. L. Haghe, though they will find a very pretty small drawing by him, "Le corps de garde " (No. :11s). But we can answer for their finding a great deal that will very much please and interest them. Mr. Bennett has enlarged his class of subjects, and has varied his treatment in many instances with great success. Some of the sun sets in the exhibition-room induce us to repeat our warning that light and brilliancy cannot be attained by heaping on the sky masses of colour. The light which it is in the power of our artists to obtain, with the limited materials at their disposition, is only rela • tire. Why will they not study real sunsets, with a Claude Lorraine glass as a photometer, to enable them thoroughly to appreciate the relative brightness of the landscape and the sky ? STANFIELD'S PICTURE OF THE " VICTORY," with the body of Nelson on board, towed into Gibraltar seven days after the battle of Trafalgar, is now on view at Messrs. Agnew's Gallery in Cockspur-street. The work is one of Stantield's masterpieces, attracting the eye by its admirable composition, and the mind by its associations of gloom and glory. The battered hull of the Victory tells its own tale of hard-won triumph ; the heavy swell of the sea indicates the storm to which it has been exposed ; while the clouded sky, and the massive rock in the background, give a tone of solemn grandeur to the scene. The picture is to be engraved in line by Mr. John Cousen, and in this shape will be valuable as a work of art, and precious as a faithful representation of Nelson's ship. tort* girt, Nittraturt, &r. TELEORAPIT OFFICES have been established at De lemont, in the Bernese Jura, and at Interlaken, the fashionable haunt of the English tourists in Switzer land. A star clock, constructed at Munich, has been placed at the Berne Observatory. Its pendulum touches every minute an electric wire, which puts it into instant communication with the Post-office. The public will be enabled to benefit by this invention, and a perfect uniformity in timekeeping will be intro • duced all over Switzerland. THE FRENCH ACADEMY has just awarded the grand prize for poetry to Mme. Louise Collet; the subject was " The Acropolis of Athens," and the number of competitors sixty. THE additional buildings necessary to complete the Palace of Industry in the Champs Elysees will be commenced immediately. These additions will be made of cast iron, so as to be removable when the Universal Exhibition is over. They will be very ex tensive, for applications have already been made fur the admission of no less than 1,000 large engines re quiring space to allow visitors to inspect them in ac tion. The building is expected to be finished in November. A WELL-KNOWN SWEDISH AUTHOR, John F. Lund blad, has just expired. His histories of Charles X., Gustavus, and Charles XII., are well known and highly appreciated in Sweden. Ms. ULLMAN, Madame Sontag's agent, is on a visit to Europe, where he will engage an English tenor and other artists to assist Madame Sontag in the production of English operas, a series of which she intends giving in all the principal cities of the United States, commencing in New York city. Since Ma dame Sontag's arrival in America she has received one hundred and ten thousand dollars. M. JAQUES ARAOO is about to leave France for the Brazils, at the request of the Emperor, Dom Pedro 11., who has a great affection for him. IT is stated that by June next the wires of the electric telegraph will have been extended from Madrid to Saragossa, from which point two lines will be directed to Barcelona, and two others to meet the French telegraph at lrun ; and that in August the whole will be completed. 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