The National Register. — London, England, 1812-06-07 00:00:00

10 COL-1%2' AND IVORLD OF F.4SIIION. 'l'l - IF. KING. Sunday last the following Bulletin was shewn at St. J a mes's Palace : WINDSOR CASTLE, MAY 10.-..4 - 415 Majesty continues nearly in the same state as the last monthly rerort." THE KING'S BIRTH DAY.—TIIIITSday his Majesty com pleted his 74th year ; the morning was ushered in with the ringing of bells, and colours and standards were dis played from the steeples. The Park and Tower guns were fired at one o'clock. In the evening n the mail coaches went in grand procession , the coachme and guards in their new cloaths , p ast the Palaces and Carlton House, through the Park, and several principal streets, to the Post Office. Several of the public offices, all the places of amusement, and the Royal tradesmen's houses, were illuminated. The PRINCE REGENT, accompanied by the DUKE of C U MBERLAND, left town oon after nine o'clock, for Windsor , where they were met by the other branches of the Royal Family, who, with a sele, t party of particu lar friends, paid their complim.2ntary respects to the QUEEN, in die Grand Saloon, on the return of the day. —new— Wednesday, the Lonn MAYOR and LADY M A YORERV. gave a grand dinner, at the Mansion Horse, to most of the Royal Dukes, the French Princes, a d n a number of f the Nobility ; and in the evening a grand ball and supp was given to upwards of 600 persons of fashion. The newly-installed Knights of the Bath have, with the most laudable consideration for the sufferings of the poor, determined to appropriate the sum usually spent upon such occasions in festivities, to public charity. The first suggestion of tFis humane .proposition proceeded from the Fail of Norairrsx. - At no time did the BiNifittania rage with more vio- 1 lence than at present. t the uke of ROXBURGH'S sale, Tuesday last, a collectio A n of twDo-peuny portraits of Cri minals, and other remarkable characters, chiefly of per- 1 sons tried at the Old Bailey, sold for 941. 10s.—The Boke of St. Albans, printed 1486, 1471.—The Nirrour of the World, Caxton, 1480, 3.511. 15s.—The Kalindayr of the Shippers, 1503, 1801.—The last little volume was bought for the Duke by Mr. NrcaoL, for two kuineas.—At a s ubsequent day's sale of the above library, a collection of old-half-penny Ballad; and Garlands, pasted in three vo lumes, sold for 4781. Isis. and a set of the Sessions Paupers,ke from 1690 to 1803, s o ld for 3781. ! ! !—The young D of DEVONSHIRE has also bought the Cou nt MACCARTHY'S splendid library, in one lot, for 25,000 guineas. Tuesday morning, a little before eight o'clock, a man of a very gentlemanly appearance, dressed in black silk stockings, black small-clothes, marcella waistcoat, and dressing gown, a white night-cap on his head, and carry nt - ing a small poker on his left arm, walked through Sai James's Park. His uncommon appearance attracted a number of followers. He proceeded to York-house, and knocked at the door ; the porter, oberving his strange ' appearance, did not open the door ; however, he repeated his knocks with a degree of consequence, which induced the potter to open the door. He then presented a letter for the Duke of YORK, observing, that it was upon State affairs, and it must be given to his Royal Highness di rectly. The porter told him it was i m possible to deliver the letter to his Royal Highness immediately, but he should have it very shortly ; with which the other appear edsatisfied, observing, he shouldcall again about 10 oclock. lie then left York-house, and ploceeded along the Park. FINE ARTS. JUNE 7 ROYAL ACADEMY, SOMERSET-HOUSE. No. 2.riB. Snow Storm : Hannibal and his Arnty crossing the Alps. By T. M. W. TURNER, R. A.—Human genius, we know, does not follow the trodden path of the vulgar—he takes his flight above the common spheres and often conceals himself in the regions of the clouds. From thence he shoots his lightnings, thunders upon our understanding, and astonishes the world : but is it not often the case, that we admire his works because he is hidden from us, and that if we were more ac quainted, or even acquainted at all, with the means he employs the spell should soon he broken ? At first sight the Passage qf Hannibal across the Alps strikes the imagination. The awful sight of the sun bedimmed. by convulsive clouds, and tremendous tempests, torn, on the canvas, by the unruled rage of a wonder-working brush ; sheets of half-con gealed water pouring from the skies; the glare of the snow, and a few individuals on the fore-ground, where the pencil and the pallet, as if in a drunken fit, seem to have vied with each other which might contribute the moat to the insignificant daub—this is all that excites our astonish ment when at a distance, and all we can find when we approach nearer. We have always felt a decided aversion against the fashionable manner and ephemerous success of those who work merely for effect. Wee have long been persuaded, and remain still of opiniou, that it is a paltry trick Flayed upon the innocent sight of those who are not perfectly acqtraint ed with what real painting is. Did the masters and luminaries of the antient schools produce the admirable effect which we find in their works by these means ? Certainly not; every branch of the art was treated freely by them ; no spurious scurefeling ever usurped the place of the real and genuine exer tions of a clear mind and of a skillet hand ; and we do not share the happiness of those who publish* that many geed thoughts may be fortunately elicited out by an accidental dash; that we are to learn from shapeless holes and moisture -wrought inequa lities on a wall how to compose ; and that we can fertilize the barren ness of our imagination with heaps of rubbish, forms in the clouds, or figures in the burning coals of our grates. De nihilo nil fit ; we under stand that no good performance can arise from an unthought of sub ject: and without a previous plan. The picture under consideration is one of those productions that seem to have been flashed out, when the artist was, dike the improvisatore of the satyrist, Stalls perk ins uno; and tar from what we expect of the well-tried talents of Mr. To It >alt. Had we to review the timid endeavours of a novice in the art, or the first and rapid sketch of a youthful mind, pregnant with grand and bold ideas, and whose hand can hardly follow the velocity of the con ceptions in their flight, we should have most willingly laid down the rod of severity—but here, the artist is an Academician, a man to;ohom the British Muse of Painting has long looked up for the addition of new rays to his celestial crown ; a man whose example is of the greatest import to young practitioners ; and we hope, that our observations will induce him henceforth to embody his sublime ideas in a manner more like substance and shape. This style of Painting reminds us of the non who had, at the solicitation of an ignorant financier, undertaken to paint the plafond of his villa's staircase. The sul , ject was to be the drowning of Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea. The artist more cunning in his tricks than in his profeseion, smeared the whole with tints of red—not a figure was to be seen. When the proprietor came to sec the work finished, he asked, very hastily, " What is all this ?" " The Red sea," answered the man.—`' Well, but where are the Egy' dans ?"—" Drowned," said the painter ;—" But the Israelites, Where are they ?"—‘' Gone over, Sir." No. —. Sir William Curtis, Baronet. 4 Portrait. By T. Lew- SINCE, R. A.—lt cannot be denied, even by the most is veterate ene mies of this country, that our Portait Painters leave arriveda and at a dcoeen rce of perfection not to be e q ualled by any Artists in E s quently in the rest of the globe. This performance is one of those which cannot be seen without paying that tribute of admiration which hyper tiality offers to real merit. We arc sorry to be under the necessity of deploring, that this most fruitful of all the branches oth f e art should h ave employed Sc) many hands, and chiefly hands vishich misht have be , n led by superior minds to the highest steps of the chromatic throne, to those places where RAPHAEL, BITONAROTTI, TITIAN, and stu n , others, stand wreathed with the unfailing laurels of the 1 listori•. Muse. But, alas! few, very few. imitate the aecient artist l'roto genes, who, when he rainted his fayoUrite Jalysus, lived entirely up ea lupines and beans, kit the vapours of gross nourishments should Lao' - • 1- THE NATION AL IZEGIsiTEU, P ■