The Press. — London, England, 1854-05-13 00:00:00

MAY 13, 1854. The public has recently been warned by a critic of considerable reputation (the author of "Modern Painters ") against the error of confounding the bile and the false prophets of the pre•Raphaelite school. The " Light of the World" (No. 508), by Mr. Hunt, is, it should seem, the masterpiece of the true school ; and on the same authority we are in formed " it is the very noblest work of sacred art of this or any other age." We ourselves do not profess to be adepts in either school, the true or the spurious : both appear to us equally re moved from truth and nature, and even from all resemblance to the works of the ingenious and care ful painters who practised the art in its infancy. These men, without a system or a plan, sought neither to convert a picture into a puzzle or a conundrum, but, on the contrary, to address them selves to those who could feel but not understand, who could admire without being able to discover the source of their pleasure—in a word, to render them selves intelligible to the ignorant and uninformed by telling their story as plainly as the language of paint ing admitted —men, moreover, who, painting with their utmost ability, availed themselves with all the humility of genius of the discoveries of their prede cessors, nor ever dreamed of seeking for their type in a more remote and less cultivated age. The pre• Raphaelite folly is one with which we have neither patience nor sympathy; it has not even the merit of originality. It was invented in Germany by the beery enthusiasts of Dusseldorf and Munich, and was imported into England after it was well-nigh worn out on the Continent. Judging from the spe cimens this collection contains, we began to cherish hopes that the clever artists who were once its dis ciples bad abandoned it. Mr. Hunt is, we have little doubt, a clever and able man : he has gone we un• derstand on a pilgrimage into Syria, and we have no doubt he will return a wiser man. We cannot ad mire either the conception or the execution of the picture that has been the object of the high eulogium we have quoted. The Saviour is represented with a galley lantern in his hand, knocking at a door overgrown with ivy and flowering shrubs, and which can never for years have been opened on any living inhabitant. "Behold, 1 stand at the door, and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me."—Rev. iii. 20. The allegory is farfetched, unintelligible, and incon sistent. The human heart is never empty; if not filled with good spirits it is occupied by bad. Where no chamber is swept and garnished, and no fire kindled, there can be no entertainment. It is as vain to knock at the door of a sepulchre as of a desolate house and expect the summons will be heard. The technical merits of this work are still fewer. Neither the attitude nor the countenance of the Saviour have any expression ; the opal light that proceeds from the lantern is neither beautiful nor poetical ; truth to any known and existing nature the subject does not affect, but we are at a loss to discover any careful study even in the accessories. "The Giudecca" (No. 115), and " The Church of Sta. Maria della Salute" (No. 200) at Venice, by Mr. Roberts, are not painted with the usual care and precision of that clever artist. The drawing and perspective are not only incorrect and faulty, but all the peculiar character of the place is lost. The coarse and clumsy architecture belongs to the Venice of no period ; the grey and monotonous colouring very feebly represents its rich and varied tints; and all objects that intercept the rays of Italian suns pro ject shadows very unlike the misty and heavy repre sentations of Mr. Roberts. Several sea pieces by Mr. Stanfield exhibit all the knowledge of shipping for which he is famous, and have the peculiar freshness that belongs to the breezy mornings of an English summer. No. 480, " The Blithe Brook," by Mr. Creswick, is clever and well painted ; and in " The Evening in the Meadows" (590), by Messrs. Lee and Cowper, the cattle drinking in the cool stream remind us of similar subjects by the Dutch painters. The cabinet of drawings and miniatures contains many portraits very carefully finished, of which, however, not a few, we regret to observe, are in correct in drawing, and more still possess but little interest except for the friends of the persons re presented. Mr. Thorburn still retains the supe riority that has long been awarded to him in this department of art. Though England during the last century produced painters far exceeding their contemporaries on the Continent, and though we may justly claim, if not the invention, the perfectioning of water colours, we cannot boast of one great sculptor. Flaxman was a great designer; Chantrey was excellent only in portrait. Our clever artists who have passed their l.•ves in Rome are the pupils of another school, and owe little beyond their birth to their native country. The department of sculpture, never well represented in this collection, is this year peculiarly behindhand. We regret to observe that the prevalent bad taste which has so sensibly affected our painters has had a still greater influence on our sculptors. Sculpture THE PRESS. cannot be picturesque—the attempt to make it so de generates into affectation and caricature, and the pre ltaphaelite sculptors are models still more unsafe than the painters of the same period. No. 1,441, " The Bust of a Lady," by Baron Marocchetti, is well executed, but the drapery on the bosom is coloured, and the hair is actually sprinkled with gold dust. No. 1,467," The Portrait of Lord Dufferin," by Lord Gif ford, we select for notice, not certainly from its supe riority to all that the Golgotha contains, but because it is very extraordinary that an amateur, and one, too, who, as we are informed, has only recently discovered his talent, should have produced a bust on a par at least with the best of those that have been executed by artists of long standing and great practice. Vusir. ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA. Trtz Barbiere , the evergreen Barbiere, selected for the first appearance of Mario and the veteran Lablache this season, was produced on Tuesday last, with, as the theatre bills informed us, an unprece dented cast. The performance, however, by no means equalled our expectation. Mario was out of voice or out of humour, and either could not or would not sing his part. Mme. Bosio, though she executes well, is no actress ; and consequently the whole burden of the opera fell upon shoulders well able to bear it, those of Lablache and Ronconi. With what success they enacted their parts our readers may easily imagine : they kept the audience in a high state of merriment and delight, though what an Italian would term their buffonate were at times rather too strong for our sensitive nerves. Signor Tagliafico's conception and performance of the cha racter of Don Basilio were very artistic ; but the absurd pantomimic hat he wore was a great mis take. Singing masters in Spain did not wear the flowing robes in which Don Basilio is always repre sented on the stage. The only object of attiring him in that costume is to make him resemble a Jesuit in appearance as well as disposition ; and unless the Jesuit's hat, which is the only distinctive mark of the fraternity, is retained, the satire loses its point. On Thursday Don Giovanni was produced for the first time this season. Mlle. Cruvelli was the Donna Anna, Mlle. Marai Donna Elvira, and Mme. Bosio Zerlina. All three parts were well sustained. Tamberlik made as much as possible of the insipid character of Don Ottavio. Ronconi, the Don Giovanni, sustained his part with a success which we confess we have known equalled. There is a preva lent, though questionable, impression among Opera house managers that the subscribers care nothing for Don Giovanni. Thursday was accordingly made an "extra" night, when the non-subscribers crowded the house to suffocation in every part. THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY. THE programme of the fifth concert, given on Mon day last, was as follows : PART I.—Sinfonia, Letter T, Havdn—Scene (Euryanthe), Mr. Sims Reeves, Weber—Concerto In 6 minor, Pianoforte, Mr. Lind. say Sloper,Moseheles—Aria, " Non paventar" (11Flauto Magico), Miss Louisa Pyne, Mozart—Overture (Midsummer Night's Dream), Mendelssohn. PART 11.—Sinfonia in A, No. 7, Deethoven—Duetto, " Bella Ninfa" (Jessonda), Miss Louisa Pyue and Mr. Sims Reeves, Spohr—Overture (Der Vampyr), Marschner. We feel under great obligation to the present direc • tion for taking down Haydn from the shelf, to which for some time past he has been unduly consigned, and for presenting to the subscribers the symphony letter T, which has not been beard for many years, and which broke upon the audience with all the freshness of novelty. Though the score is very light and of no great pretensions, it is a fine specimen of the master's works, and possesses many of his pe culiar excellences. The first and last movements are spirited, and boldly conceived. The andante has a charming subject, skilfully varied and relieved by the accompaniment; and the graceful, flowing, melody of the trio is enough to make the very stones dance. This symphony was executed to perfection, and the close and expressive playing of the first violins was the theme of general admiration. Beet hoven's symphonies are happily, in these days, so well known that any critical remarks as to their merits and mission in art would be now superfluous. On such a theme, however, as Beethoven's symphony in A we cannot be silent, and it is with pleasure, therefore, that we record the sati'.factory impression which the exertions of the band left upon our mind. We do not ever recollect to have heard this masterpiece better executed. The last movement, in particular, was wonderfully given. In spite of the rapid tempo the subjects were distinctly traceable, anti the peculiar combinations effectively evolved. From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step. Who would have thought that this self-same band, whose talent we have already in this notice been twice called upon to eulogise, should have failed signally in rendering Mendelssohn's overture to 66 Midsummer Night's Dream," a composition which 451 most of its members must almost know by heart Painful as the fact may be, it is our duty to record it. There was no due observance of piano and forte. The early part of the overture was uncertainly scram bled over, and the braying of the ophecleide seemed to us more than usually discordant. Marschner's overture is a poor affair, and did not deserve to be an element of such a concert. The vocal music was much better than usual. Miss L. Pyne sang " Non paventar " charmingly. The purity and expression with which she gave the early part of the song made ample amends for any want of power exhibited in the bravura movement. It would be a great boon to the subscribers if this lady was oftener engaged at these concerts, to the exclusion of the " horrors " who constantly appear. The duet from Spohr's Jeasonda was excellently sung and gave great satisfaction. We must not forget Mr. Lindsay Sloper : his per formance was admirable and was deservedly much applauded. His success could not have been greater even if he had selected a better outlet for his talent than the uninteresting concerto of such a barren dry composer as Moscheles. In the absence of Mr. Costa, whose attendance at the Palace had been commanded, the concert was conducted with great ability by Mr. Lucas. [Our notice of the New Philharmonic Concert must, perforce, be postponed.] 14t f)rama. OLYMPIC THEATRE, As amusing little farce, Fighting by Proxy, was revived on Thursday at this house with success. A London tradesman, with his wife and daughter, is on a tour in Belgium. The latter has three pre tenders to her hand—two fellow-tradesmen, one favoured by the father, the other by the mother, and the third, a gallant captain, favoured by the lady herself. From this Ann Page situation she is rescued—like the original—by cheating both the obnoxious suitors. A friend of the captain, who acts the part of the theatrical valet, gets up a quarrel between them, forces them into a duel, under takes to fight on proxy for each, and, after firing off a couple of pistols, persuades each that he has killed the other. In consequence they both take fright, and leave the field clear for the captain. Each, be lieving the other dead, is stowed away in a cupboard in the same room : they encounter each other in the dark, and an opportunity for a good effect was offered which we are somewhat surprised the author should have lost. They only shake hands. The fun con sists in the terror of the two rivals, given with great spirit by Messrs. Robson and H. Wigan. The piece, as we have said, amused the audience: it might have been better, as Mr. George Primrose's cousin would say, if the author had taken more pains, and, we may add, if the actors had taken less. The Lyceum Theatre closed suddenly on Monday, and the performances, we are told, will remain sus pended " until further notice." Trip art, sittralutt, ix. A CURIOUS EXPERIMENT was made last week at Paris in the basin of the garden of the Palais Royal in the presence of a numerous crowd of spectators. A glass globe containing a certain liquid was thrown into the water and then broken by means of a pole. The liquid immediately spread itself over the sur face of the water, caught fire, and continued to burn with an intense flame for fifty-six seconds, throwing out a thick smoke. The basin looked us if it was all on fire. This strange result is due to researches which have been for some time past making by M. Niepce de Saint Victor, Commandant of the Louvre, whose name is already well known in connection with important scientific discoveries; General Picot, Commandant of the Palais Royal, author of learned works on artillery, attack and defence of fortified places, itc.; and M. Fontaine. By the mixture of different chemical substances, these gentleman have succeeded in composing a liquid which is not costly, and which takes fire spontaneously in coming in con tact with water. The importance of such a discovery in the hands of those who attack or defend a place, and particularly in a naval combat, may be readily conceived. SMUGGLING Ix NEW3PAPERS is carried on very briskly in Warsaw, and pays very well. The prices fetched by recent anti-Russian papers, with " inte resting" news, are spoken of as ridiculously high. The official papers are of course of a Russian hue ; others, while refraining from expressing Russian sympathies, reprint such scanty supplies of informa tion as the censor leaves unblacked or uncut out. The Prussian sources of information are the Russian organs abroad, the Neuel'reussiache Zeitung (Kreux), Augsburger Allgenteine Zeitung, &c. These papers are allowed to be exposed in public places. Now and then an Austrian paper is to be met with, but hardly ever an English one. ..fir ~.d 11