The Press. — London, England, 1853-05-21 00:00:00

monotony of colour, the same heavy shadow of which we have complained in the landscapes—the same want of vigour and effect—with a still greater defi ciency, a want of fancy. ►► The Battle of Naseby," by Mr. Camphausen, is the most important of these works in size, but it pos sesses little other claim to notice. The moment se lected for representation is when the Lord Caine wath so suddenly turned the king's bridle, and with It the fortunes of the day ; and when the king, more strangely still, submitted to his dictation and thereby lost both kingdom and life. We were unfavourably reminded of the same composition by Patrocel, fa miliar in England by a well-known engraving, but handled with much more truth, spirit., and picturesque effect. Mr. Camphausen has not mounted his ca valiers upon the wide-chested, well-fed steeds of Flemish breed, with their long tails and flowing manes, with which Vandyke and Velasquez have made us familiar, but has substituted for them, by an anachronism which is inexcusable because it is without temptation, the blood horses of the present genera tion, the least picturesque animals that walk upon four legs. An " .Ecce Homo" (: N i), by Professor Miicke, is stiff and inanimate; the subject, t►o, re Ores the presence of some of the Roman soldiers and the ac cusing Jews. A female portrait (1), by Professor Sohn, is exe cuted with care ; the drawing is correct but feeble, and the shadows are thick and inky. WATER-COLOUR 'EXHIBITIONS. [Third Nato.] THERE is a fashion in the tine arts as in all things else. " The accidents of nature," which were inter. dieted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, supply the most striking subjects of our modern exhibitions. " Sunrise in the Highlands," by Mr. lL Fripp (No. 32), and a " Stormy Sunset;' by Mr. C. Bentley ( No. 72), are fine representations of nature's granderetfects. lbut in the former the shadows of time foreground are con fusedly blended with the lights, and thus the effect of sunlight is lost. It is true that the sun is low in the horizon, anti darts but. a sickly ray through an atmo sphere charged with vapour : the shadowA, therefore, would of necessity be feeble ; but, however feeble they may be, whenever it. is intended to convey the idea of sunshine their outline must be clearly de fined. The" Stormy" Sunset would be very fine, if the pain ter eoubl have fringed his ragged clouds and painted his crimson streaks with actual light. As a transpa rency (we mean nothing disrespectful), with a light behind it, to make the sky luminous, this drawing would have the lustre which time painter meant to give, but which is denied to mere surfaeo-painting. Beyond a certain point it is impossible, with such means as the colour-box supplies, to combine bright ness of light and richness of cAonr. The further the artist recedes from white the nearer he ap proaches darkness, and the more diffiettlt it 'pommies to establish a due subordination of the lights of the landscape to the lights of the sky. It was this vain struggle against the inadequacy of his materials that hurried Turner in his later works into so many ex travaganees—extravagances which disappeared when the picture was turned into a monochrome by the engraver, and left only his wonderful chiaroscuro and composition for our admiration. A still wilder "accident. of nature" is presented us by Mr. A. Fril) in his " Pompeii " (No. 165). The storm is raging, and somewhat opaque and duskylight ning is Hashing from the cloud ; the effect, however, of the whole is too violent, the contrast too strong, anti the 1 igh t too insulated. We cannot see from what, part of the murky sky the illumination proceeds: the position of the shadows proves that it, cannot be from the light ning. The market-place is represented as a reedy swamp, while a water-snake scarcely less than St. t ;eorge's dragon is the sole tenant of the foreground. No doubt this is a poetical conception of the "city of the dead." But Pompeii stands on a gentle cmi neuce, and most of our readers know by experience that. after time heaviest rain its light, porous soil is immediately dry. Had the artist wished for majestic ruins or deserted villages standing in swamps, he might have found them on his way from Naples at Garigliano, or at N infa in the Pontine Marshes. This is an infraction of the truth of "fact" for which we pleaded the week before last. in our remarks on this exhibition. Close by we observe another instance of its neglect. (No. Itti). Mr. C. Haag represents a Capu chin preaching to a kneeling audience beneath the three columns of Jupiter Tonans, where never friar preached and no congregation could find room to kneekif indeed they were desirous of hearing the sermon in such an unusual attitude. Friars preach at stated times in the Colosseum, because it is a church, and a regular pulpit has been constructed in it. But they do not preach at pleasure under any of the ruins that will supply a striking baekgromel to the painter. What should we say to a 'Roman artist who chose to en liven a view of Beigrave-square with a foreground consisting of a noble audience on their knees to Mr. Bennett under the trees of the garden ? We do not THE PRESS. approve entirely of Mr. Haag's arrangement of light and shadow in this picture, though we perceive it is a favourite with him and with some other artists. A cast shadow divides the subject into two strongly defined masses of equal light and shadow. This is, it deed, a sure method °lmmuring breadt4, but it is the breadth of the rouge et noir table. Moreover, in this shade Mr. Haug has placed his brightest local colours and his most interesting details—in fact the very group whose dramatic propriety we venture to question. This we think a defect. It is an endeavour to com bine two opposite and irreconcilable effects—the eye would gladly rest on the mysterious shadow, but is painfully led on to penetrate its recesses by the at tractive details. There are many remarks on what is called Italian colour and composition which are suggested to us by Mr. Iltuttee and other pictures in the exhibition, but our limits oblige us to reserve them for some future occasion. One observation only we will add. Admitting that the greys of English shadows are less pure and less ptuide than those of Italy, we would ask Mr. E. Duncan, whose picture (No. 12$) we very much admire, whether the greenness of his greys does not appear excessive, especially when his works are placed in close juxtaposition with those of other artists' Among the figure-painters wo regret the ab sence of Mr. Lewis and the retirement of Mr. Cattermole. But the quantity of pictures of history or "genre" is considerable, and the quality high. No. 77 is a great etiiirt, and claims the indulgence which to a great effort we willingly accord. It repre sents that touching scene in Shakspere where Itiehard 11. calls fur a glass to see himself in his humiliation, and in treating it the artist must encoun ter the disadvantage of representing a subject of which no positive delineation can ever reach the vague images of beauty said pathos which Shakspere's verses conjure up to the int:t:;ination. The attitude of the King is rather theateical, and so is the group ing and the cost lune. We do not believe bishops attended in the House of lords dressed as if they were about to perform the high mass, and with aco lytes bearing crosiers ; but, if they did, an acolyte in the foreground ought at least to be candlilly painted. Mr. C. Haag's figures and hen Is show very great talent. We shoal I not lie greatly surprised if this gentleman gra Wally tiler itlon-d landscape for figures. Many of the pictures in "yt'nere" are excellent, highly ingenious in sentiment, and graceful in exe cution. By way of a sample, we will only mention " I I allway biome" ( No. 155) ; "A Little Botheration" (No. 121 ) ; and " A Letter from the Diggings" (No. 1111). Mr. Hunt has got a new model. We have never seen his " Young Rustic " (No. 200) before ; and beyond this iwe will not mention his works, on which we have no particular remark to make except to oiler our tribute of praise. Indeed, for our own sake, not less than of those whom we have ventured to criticise, we must protest against the inference that in our notice we have dis tinguished all that we consider most worthy of public attention. A critique oar an exhibition like the pre sent, which should undertake to distribute praise wherever it was due, would far exceed our limits, were it as concise—and it certainly would be as dull —as a catalogue. Faithful to our original intention, we Intro rather endeavoured to throw out such hints as may (if confirmed by the judgment of abler cri• tics) be of use to the artist. The New Water-colour Soeiety does not appear as yet to have obtained its fair proportion of public favour ; but, as it, contains a great deal of beauty and skill, we do not doubt it will quietly work its way. Mr. Lewis Haghe's woks form the chief attraction among the figure pieces. His " Happy Trio" (No. 45) immediately draws our attention ; but we cannot persuade ourselves that the brilliancy of the colour of his two principal figures is sufficiently hanno nised with those of the rest of his picture. Among the landscapes there are many of great beauty and truth. In a notice that must necessarily be so short, we should be unwilling to single out any name if we did not desire to suggest a word of ad vice. We particularly admire Mr. Bennett's wood sce nery, anti think the greyness of his tones admirably true; but we would suggest to him the policy of varying his subjects a little more, and of contrasting his cool greens in many of his pictures with tints of a warmer quality. Let bins take care how the public fasten on him the epithet of " cold ;" wo know how tastelessly and unreasonably it is often applied, but it. is most injurious in its effects on the artist's point- tly puma. ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA. Iv the tales which travellers tell respecting the degraded state of the musical art in Italy be not eredited, the reputation that Verdi there enjoys as a composer of the highest order should sittßee to establish the fact, and convince any impartial ob server. It is with sincere sorrow that we express SATURDAY, our deliberate opinion that the musical art in Italy, which, though it never attained the same perfection as the sister arts of painting and sculpture, has nevertheless lon g survived their decay, will, at no distant period, prove a reproach rather than a glory to that nation, whose soil in times gone by was termed the land of sang. Verdi's opera, Rigoletto, produced on Saturday last, has proved a complete failure. A work so devoid of all merit it has seldom been our misfortune to hear; and nothing but the array of talent engaged in the representation, or possibly the indulgence which an English audience invariably accords to a foreign author, could have prevented its unequivocal con. damnation. The most ardent admirers of the mo dern Italian school could scarce pronounce the work inditterent. With the exception of a melody sung several times by Signor Mario in the last act, and a quartet (the only concerted piece in the opera), the music contains no distinguishable feature. The first of these compositions is not by any means original, and the last depends in a great measure for its effect upon the unisonous roaring of the four voices, which, though it may excite enthusiasm in an Italian audience, falls lifeless upon the ears of the frequenters of Covent Garden. The instrumentation is noisy and barren ; and certain thefts, both from Mozart's ghost music and more modern composers, are obvious. The singing was excessively good. lionconi was very great in the arduous and ditfieult part of Rigo letto ; and Mario and Mlle. Bosio received loud and well-deserved applause. Such poor music leaves but little for the orchestra to execute ; but a word of commendation is due to Mr. Lucas for his etfective performance of the violoncello obligate in the second act, which is written in a difficult key, and is by no means easy of execution. Mr. Beverley's fira:, ap pearance as the scene-painter at this theatre natu rally excited much interest. Two moonlight scenes, Rigoletto's house and garden, in the first act, and the banks of the Mincio, in the last act, were well worthy of his reputation. As, however, we admit Mr. Beverly's superiority to all other scenic artists, we may be excused inquiring how a Grecian Doric portico could possibly find its way to a cinque cento facade tn a via elect& in Moans. This defective combina tion must be the result of some oversight, and should be remedied. The scene in the palace in the second act is very faulty. Independently of the • actual execution, which is by no means good, the decora tion is French, in the rococo taste, and two centuries later than the period in which the action of the opera is laid. . HAYMARKET THEATRE. To attempt to unravel the plot of the new comedy called The Mousetrap is a task we would not willingly indict upon ourselves or our readers. A number of persons, at least three of whom might be entirely suppressed without being missed, wander in and out of a handsomely-furnished room, entertaining each other, if no one else, with very harmless conversation, with out uny apparent motive beyond the description of the conduct of a certain Captain Smith towards his natural child, which natural child eventually turns out to be somebody else's. The language seldom rises above agreeable commonplace, except when in the mouths of the young lovers it breaks out in the author's old vein, in passioniate and poetic imagery curiously out of keeping with the rest of the com position. The two gipsies, mother and daughter, the one still, like Autolycus, "a picker up of un considered trities," the other reclaimed into a lady's maid, both speak a language strangely untrue in ears familiar with Epsom and Ascot. Au original and humorous sketch of an old man-of-war's man turned Quaker, interlarding the peaceful phrases of the Friends " with the intensifying metaphors of the cockpit," was amusing enough in the hands of Mr. Buckstone, although the intention of the author was somewhat sacrificed to the development of the pecu liar mannerisms of the actor. But why Mousetrap? At intervals during the piece a scientific nobleman of feeble intelligence appears, carrying a newly-invented mousetrap in various stages of completion. We presume there is some symbolical connection in the author's mind between the mechanism of the trap and the moral perplexi ties of the principal personage of the drama ; but at' this we are by no means certain. The high Ned. , power of the author, so apparent in his former pro ductions, appears better fitted for the illustration of the romantic and ideal than of every-day reality. The scene was arranged with great taste and ele gance, and the dresses generally appropriate; but we must protest against Mr. Bitekstone's hat with a brim as broad as a 100-table, and Mr. Tillatry's nan keen pantaloons with Hessian boots reaching to the knees. As Mr. Buckstone is at the head of one of the first theatres in London, we wonbl implore him to show some respect for his profession, and not allow the walls of the metropolis to be plastered with such vulgar and contemptible placards as " Have you seen the Fighting Quaker ?" and see Braid imitate Kean," Lc., te. lirood sense and right feeling ought