The Press. — London, England, 1858-05-01 00:00:00

tint ,rts THE ROYAL ACADEMY. Tex exhibition of the Royal Academy opens on Monday next. The private view took place yester day, and, as far as we can judge from our first rapid examination, the collection of pictures is fully equal to those of the last few years. There is a variety of subject and a variety of talent, which make the ex hibition this year, perhaps, more than usually in teresting; and, among the younger artists especially, we are glad to observe signs of steady progress. We shall reserve all detailed criticism for another time, and content ourselves at present with a slight sketch of some of the principal features. The list of de faultem is rather heavy ; we miss front the catalogue the names of Herbert., Eastlake, Maclise, Lee, Dyce, Goodall, Millais, and Holman Hunt. Mulready sends only one small drawing, Redgrave one small landscape, and a little picture of " Zephyr and Aurora" is the only contribution of' Frost.. Leslie has forsaken the Spectator and " Don Quixote " for the present, and sends a Scripture-piece," What is it, that ye disputed among yourselves by the way ?"—not a success by any means. " The Maid and the Mag pie," by Sir Edwin Landseer, is rather a feeble example of the painter's style ; and his " Deerstalk ing," a large drawing in crayons, is more remarkable for the novelty of the medium than for anything else. But the greatest failures of all are Mr. Ward's long talked-of pictures painted for the Queen—" The Emperor of the French Receiving the Order o f the Garter," , and " The Visit of Queen Victoria to the Tomb of Napoleon." Anything more utterly disgrace. ful to a member of the Royal Academy than these two miserable productions we never recollect. The por traits are bad, the colour false, and the drawing fla grantly incorrect ; among the thousand pictures which cover the walls of these rooms it would be hard to find anything worse. Mr. Ward also exhibits his original design for the fresco of " Alice Lisle," which he has just completed in one of the corridors of the Houses of Parliament. Frith's large picture of the "Derby-day," upon which he has been occupied for the last two years, is one of the greatest points of attraction in the large room. It contains an astonishing number of figures, all of which have been studied with the greatest care, and are grouped with admirable skill. One may spend a long time in examining the endless variety of costume and character which he hats crowded upon his can vas. Creswick sends four of his English landscapes ; Roberta has been busy upon Venice, and has pro duced a view of the Ducal Palace and the interior of the churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and San Giovanni e Paolo; also a large view of the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Stanfield has four sea-pieces, so much like all his former works that no one can possibly be sure whether he has seen them before or not'; In fact, to all intents and purposes, we have all seen theni many times before. " Summer," " Sunday Evening," and " Grace before Meat," are three of Webster's usual rustic subjects, all pleasing, but not remarkably new. Cope's "Upward Gazing " is far better than his " Stepping Stones," in which his style is hardly recognizable. Elmore and F. R. Pickersgill, the new Academicians, exhibit their " diploma-pictures,"—the former a sub ject from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the latter a composition entitled "The Bribe," a lady buying her way into a prism with a pearl necklace. Mr. Elmore has also given us "An Incident in the Life of Dante ;" he has got the features pretty well and the sarcastic expression, but there is hardly dignity enough a bo u t "th e man who descends to the inf erna l reg i ons , and comes away when he likes, and then writes what be has seen." " The dismay of Athaliah," by Hart, will probably be applauded by all who relish th a t ar ti st ' s wor k s, and a similar circle three will perhaps admi re th e landscapes of Wither ington. O'Neil's " Eastward Ho " is a most touch ing picture of the troops embarking for the East, and bidding farewell to their wives and children—a fine subject finely treated. Egg's triple picture, without a title, is one of the most powerful and one of the most mournful in the room ; the subjects are sad enough in themselves th ree scenes from the his tory of an unfaithful wife. Mr. Egg has also a Painting from " Esmond," not very unlike the One he exhibited last tures by Wallis, s . year. Of the three pic trWalter Raleigh in the Tower" is perhaps the 3C b ut all of them will add to his rapidly rising repu tation. ir s i ti Horsley has a fine picture, n tw al o led pi : t F ur ic e iw e e i r ri g on s in f Town and Country," or rather new rank as Associateft. Phillip celebrates his ppairodntuecdnonDs—anbtl er by sending no less than seven Spanish subjects, and all admirably Denby sends three of his "imaginative land scape , ;,, and Hook is still busy with his sailors and Pastorals from real life. J. F. Lewis has several of his mi nutely - finished studies of Eastern drir an k_ d_ L eighton , , who raised expectation by his "Orpheus 7". . in 1855, and disappointed it by his in 1858, reappears after his absence of THE PRESS, MAY 1, 1858. last year with two pictures, one of " Juliet" and the other of " The Syren and the Fisherman." There is cleverness in both; but they will not place hiin in the rank ho was expected to have taken. Solomon has two lively pictures ; Linnell, Boddington, and Linton send landscapes in their usual manner ; Lance is still supreme in fruit, and Cooke in the minute delineation of a seashore. The portraits are as numerous as ever; and the names of Grant, Watson Gordon, Pickersgill, Knight, and Richmond, occupy their usual space in the catalogue. The sculpture room is as chilly as usual ; but those who have courage to venture in will find something to repay them. Belly's statue of Turner, Theed's Burke, Calder Marshall's Oph'lia, and Mrs. Thornycroft's bust of the Princess Royal, are all worth looking at. When will the poor sculptors meet with better treat ment ? THE SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATER COLOURS. This society's exhibition is always one of the plea santest of the season. We know pretty well before. hand what we have to expect, and the rule which admits only the works of members, if it produces a certain sameness in the annual collections, secures also an average excellence. The number of pictures is not so large as to make an examination laborious, and there is very little rubbish. We do not look for productions of a highly intellectual order—we go for enjoyment rather than study ; we du not expect, and we do not want, to be put to the trouble of thinking much—we should almost complain that the exhibi - tion bad lost its character if we were. We know we shall find nothing to pain ns—no scenes of grief, no suffering, no tragedy. Everything will smile upon us. There will be beautiful fruit and beautiful flowers ; happy-looking faces, pleasant passages of com mon life, landscapes from England, Wales, Scotland. France, Italy—every place that can furnish some, thing charming, something pretty. What a strange feature this is in our national character ! We like to be called rough, honest folk, with more strength than polish—a common-sense, matter-of-fact people, having rather a contempt for airs and graces; and yet we find that to the majority of our artists the object of pursuit is prettiness, and feebleness their besetting sin. There is even more of these than usual in the exhibition of this year, for Mr. Lewis has withdrawn and Mr. Burton has sent nothing. And now, if we look round the room and ask which artist displays most strength—who draws most firmly, who colours most boldly, who shows most mastery,' most confi dence—there can be but one answer, it is the foreigner, Carl Haag. It is a pity this clever painter confines himself so closely to the class of subjects he has chosen. Cannot he turn to some higher account his endless studies from nature? He is not a mere mechanical draughtsman ; he does not make dead transcripts of persons and things, but puts something of himself into all his works. There is feeling in everything he does, and if expression is wanted, he can give that too. What a simple, natural picture of rustic courtship is his " Tyrolese Huntsman and Mountain Girl ;" but if the two had a history and we knew it, how much longer we should look at them ! If all that wonder fully painted detail were a part of the history, what •alue would it have, bow much more attention would it gain! That "Burgomaster's Daughter" has a sweet face, but we cannot tell who she is.l If we knew all about her and what she is thinking of, we should care for her much more. It seems to us that Carl Haag is quite able to take this step forward; that he can paint people, not merely standing for their portraits, but living their lives. Of course there is danger that if he begins to think and to set other people thinking, he will end by fcllowing Mr. Lewis out of the room ; but we must be prepared for that. Mr. Gilbert sends but one picture this year —a scene from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which has already appeared as a woodcut among his illus trations of Shakespeare. It has much of his usual merit and all his usual mannerism. Mr. Topham's two subjects are from the Basses Pyrenees; a group of "Devotees" before a cross, and a group of vil lagers round a fountain. Both are picturesque and pleasant examples of his light, sketchy style. The new president, Mr. F. Tayler, contributes six pic tures of Highland life and Highland sport, very much like his previous works, and very much like one another. They are not wanting in life and character, but there is a flimsiness of execution about them that detracts very much from their value. Mr. Goodall's "Coming through the Rye" is clever and spirited, and the action of the figures in " Going to Market" is animated and forcible, but the drawing of the disturbed water is very poor, and the calf has no hair on his back. Mr. Oakley's pictures are not open to the charge of prettiness ; he has very little eye for colour, and his tints are either dead and muddy, or glaring and discordant. The " Gipsy " is an ugly woman, not at all sunburnt, dressed in silks and gay ribands, and with a pack of cards on her lap. A more ungraceful and uninteresting subject we can 423 hardly imagine. There is some little humour in Mr. Riviere's Irish sketches ; the queer sheepish look of the lad in " The First Offer " is well con- trasted with the quiet self-possession of the girl. Mr. Allred Fripp's and Mr. Jenkins' studies of the Italian and French peasantry are pretty enough in themselves, but rather overpowered by the superior force of Carl Haag, whose subjects they too much resemble. "The Red Cross Knight in the Cavern of Despair,* by Miss Gillies, is the only imaginative picture at all worth notice. It was a hold thing for a lady to attempt, and the smallest success is credit able. The figure of Una is a total failure, but the face of the knight is rather striking. The expres sion is that of listless despondency, rather than of despair ; it is not painted with much power, but it is good as far as it goes. This lady, we are afraid, does not study much from nature, or studies always from the same model ; at least we know no other way of accounting for the continual recurrence in her pictures of the same very unpleasant female face. Among the landscape painters, Mr. David Cox still excites the admiration of those who have long memories, and the wonder of those who have not. He sends this year several of those strange mixtures of green and grey, from which those who remember his pictures of past years can gather a meaning, but which seem to all others scarcely more intel ligible than Mr. Pringle's photograph at mid night. " Snowdon from Capel Curig "is perhaps one of the finest, and also one of the most easily appreciated. Mr. Richardson is still repro ducing his Scotch torrents and Italian bays ; if it were not for his little sketch of the "Coast of St. Leonards," which is new and full of life, we should fancy he had resolved,to shut his eyes for the future, and paint from the mere force of habit. Mr. Bran white, with all his talent, is making no progress ; he is working from old observations instead of making new ones, and his execution, far from improving, is becoming more coarse and untruthful every year. He will soon be a painter ruined by his own 'success. " Beilstein on the Moselle," the only contribution of Mr. Harding, is a fair specimen of that artist's effective but rather artificial style. Mr. Collingwood Smith and Mr. George Fripp are as prolific as usual, and though their range of subjects is more than or dinarily extensive, the former remains true to his blue lakes, and the latter still pursues his golden sunsets. Mr. Davidson has some carefully-studied spring landscapes, and Mr. Andrews devote; himself to the barges and fishing-boats which haunt the mouth of the Thames. " Carting Ice," by Mr. Dun can, is a picturesque subject and a good design, but the figures are feeble and scarcely well drawn. The ice itself might have claimed, one would have thought, a little more care; it wants both sharpness and transparency. "The Morning after the Gale " has the same merits and the same faults; it is an excellent composition injured by the feebleness and careless treatment of the details. Mr. Newton's "View in Argyllshire" will considerably raise his reputation; it is one of the finest landscapes in the room. The force of the picture lies altogether in the distant mountain, and perhaps with a view to increase this force, the foreground is 11- ft meagre and unfinished. This mode of treatment, though once commonly em ployed, is now scarcely looked upon as legitimate. It generally gives the picture an artificial look, and in this case produces a worse result; for the moun tain and the pool at its foot, although admirably painted in themselves, do not keep their proper places. A more natural foreground would have given a better idea of distance, and made a finer and truer picture ; though, perhaps, one less striking at first sight. We are sorry to find that Mr. Jackson has not been improving during the past year; though one of the youngest members of the society, he has already fallen into a manner, and is already repeating himself, and it is easy to see why. We have only to look round the room and count eight large pictures, and we need not be surprised to find that every one distinguishes them at the first glance, and hardly stays to give them a second. If he will present us next year with only two or three, and spend upon them as much time and care as these eight have cost him, the few will be worth much more than the many. " The Dead Calm "is the best of these facile sketches; if more study and eiaboration had been bestowed upon it, it would have been a fine picture. Mr. Callow's architectural studies are as free and bold as aver, and Mr. Coiling wood's old rooms at Yarmouth and Cotele, the old seat of the Earls of Mount Edgecumbe, are painted with his usual care and finish. The cold correct ness of Mr. Nash's views in Canterbury Cathedral contrasts strongly with the brilliant effect and rich colouring of Mr. Read's " Church of St. Lorenzo" at Genoa. A small study of the Apprentice's Column in Roslyn Chapel by Mr. Read is a capital example of picturesque effect without exaggera tion ; and we must not omit to notice a land scape " from the Sabine Hills," by Carl Haag, which will repay the closest examination. The form and colour of the distat t mountains, the ad mirable drawing of the group of peasants and of the shrine by the wayside before which they are kneeling,