The Press.
London, England, 1853-05-14 00:00:00

OtR LIBRARY TABLE.

..... ..
Ayres fihast of Junin*. T. Itouworth.
Butler's ',fettle's.* on Painting. .1. H. Parker.
• 'ausphelrs Modern India and it+ Garersintens. .1. Murray.
I:autplpribt Dana as it wig be. .1. 2.litrray.
Fables de Gay, Imitates s a rers Fratawis par Le Chcralier de Char-
telain. Whittaker mid 4 'll.
Frrsch as it Walt in 133 n. nail as it is in ltegl. Loncinan and co.
Ease's Ediseation in England. Clarke, Ratan, mid Co.
Germany awl the German. Empir.. Dean So
n.
Goethe** Poem*. .1. W. Parker ano
*walla. By the Bev. chn,. Kilig§ilpy. .1. W. Parker and Son.
Irriaris Theory and Prartiee of Caste. smith. Miler, and CO.
Journal of the Statistical Soeiety. .1. W. Parker RIIII Son.
Journey noun) the Worll. 3 cols. Burst and Blacken.
Junin* and his Works eompared with the Chameter awl Writings
iqi the Earl of Chodertiebl. Hope nod Co.
Kaye's Adminiarttion .1' the East Italia Company. Bentley.
Maz:ini judged by Himself and by 11i4 Countrymen.
Vizetelly mid Co.
Pulleyn's Elymologieol Compendium. Tegg and Cn.
ibleet Poems fg. Prior and swift. J. W. Parker and Sou.
(he Castlereagh Despatches and /Atm.. 4 volK. Murray.
The Scarlet Book. Piper Brothers and Co.
Thomas Carlyle. A ("Mien! DWI!. Whittaker and Co.
TkoW7hts on fie Nature of Man. Clayton.

ART AND LITERATURE ABROAD.
The Frew+ annual exhibition of the works of
living artists is to open at Paris in a few days.
The jury of selection has shown more than usual
severity ir, admitting works, in its desire to vender
the exhibition superior to those of the last few
years.
It appetrs that Louis Napoleon has been the
cause of tie exclusion of some:pictures, having ex-

THE PRESS.

pressed a dislike to have the exhibition tilled with
works in which he should be the principal per-
sonage. M. Levanle, who had painted a large pie-
tare representing the '• Distribution of the Eagles in
the Champs de Mars," has thus seen his work set
aside. In like manner, M. Muller has not tinishea,
as he would hine done. his large painting of the
“ Ceremony of 'raisin:4 the t tath by the 'llirce t
Bodies of the State:. Louis 'Napoleon has not. how-
e‘er. extended tins proscription to what regards the
Empress. as a iiortrait of her .Nlrkiesty is to be
exhibited, from the pencil of Al. (tubule. Report
declares that MM. Ingres, Delaroche. and Couttwe
have not sent any work for exhibition this year.
The number of pictures w Weil the galleries of the
Conservatoire cam e intuit is not, it is said, more
than 1,300.
It is said that a literary treaty has been signed
between France and Portugal.
The number of works minted in French presses,
during the first four months of 1S3:1, has been 2.751.
or 141 more than in the corresponaing of
114 Y.l; of engravings and lithographic prints Mtn, or 71,
additional ; of pieces of Dunne -11".. or 1:1:i more ; and
of maps 401, or 14 additional.
The Emperor on the nth inst. g," e a Kit ate tat
dirnce to M. PIVSIitCIII uC tip.
rintiui of Braman'. Authors and I 'ontposer,s. aceont_
ponied by Millie Of 1110 members of the committee.
At this andience M. Scribe called the attention of
his Majesty to the clauses of the bill which cancels
the rights ofdramatic authors and composers twenty
ellr% after their death, find solicited the Emperor to
prolong that period.
By a decree of the Roman Inquisition. dated
April I. " History of England'' is placed
in the hole\ of forbidden writings. The saute dis-
tinetilin is awarded to the Staipture lessons pnblished
by the British I Inv-eminent in Di:ri tiir use in the
motional sdIOIOIS.
I Maw ig Titvk. the fellow-labourer of Schlegel in
the translation of Shakspere, mid the founder of the
rolimintie schist of tiefllall W 411111111.. died at Berlin
uu 1110 hi. )ear.

?int Arts.

'HIE ROYAL ACADEMY.
sceeist Nottvr. I
IN our melee of the Exhibition of the Royal Aca
Ilent, in our Inst. number, our limits compelled us to
omit itll nwittion of many excel eat works of art,
SOlllO of Willett %V now proceed to recommend to the
attention el our reader:, though still with a breiity
to which our pmerty 4,1' spare, rather than saw will,
confines Its.
Sir Watson 4;4minii. iho President of the Scotch
Academy, is a portrait .painter of no common merit.
His heads have a truth and chnracterive have seldom
,wen surpassed ; his rosemblanees, perhaps,
urc
strong rather than Nattering ; but if he purposely for_
hears lending au elevation to the subject which does
not belong to it, those who %nine fidelity to nature
will not quarrel with his forbearanee : and in this re-
speet he more closely imitates the early Italian
masters than these painters who altt'ct to take deli;
as exclusive models, nt who invariably fail in ren-
dering their spirit. His portraits are very rarely re-
lieved by high lights, evett in the face or on the pupil
of the eye. and he affects a htu•monv and sobriety of
colouring which occasionally approaches to monotony.
In his treatment of the accessory details he is sonic.
times feeble ; his blacks and greys want lustre, und
his backgrounds are gloomy and colourless. In No.
107, •• The Provost of Peterhead," the countenance
is fall of expression, but of the five excellent por-
traits of this artist, which the collection contains, our
favourite is that of Mr. Houldsworth (9911. It
displays fewer of his defects and more of his charac-
teristic merits.
A portrait. by Miss Emma Nens.ct ono ) of 111.1'11w11
mother shows considerable merit in execution ; the
colouring is also good.. Wewere much pleased with the
dexterity displayed in the management of the black
silk dress. A portrait of Mr. tieorge Ilea son, by
Mr. S. P. Knight (419), is well painted; the heed is
rendered with much spirit and cleverness.
The death of St. Thomas a Becket, by Mr..l. tress
(582), is too ambitious a production, and eccupies
too large a Aare of the over emwded wall, to he alto
gether omitted. The subject is ill-elto:en, ;11111 thee,
is nothing in the treatment to reeonrile its to the
choice. The principal tigure rather resembles is
waxen image than a living lining, and the action of
the numerous assassins—all exerting a most un-
necessary energy—is exaggerated and extravagant.
No. 507, Mr. J. Sant's picture of the infant Samuel
awakened from his sleep, and waiting to hear the
words of inspiration, is deservedly one of the most
popular works of art in the Exhibition. We are not
surprised to hear of the competition amongst several
collectors of taste for it: acquisition. 'The expression
of the child, we think, exhibits a degree of surprise
and terror which hardly belongs to a being so early
distinguished by the favour of Heaven. The treat-

meat—perhaps iiiiiivoiklably—resembles that of a si
miter subject by Sir Joshua Howl& ; and. though
the execution la very masterly, the colouring i. some

what chalky.
No. 1:I, The Thorny and the Flowery Path," In
Mr. 'l'. Fait's, 11..1.. We are at a 10,01 to conjectine
what moral Mr. l'witrs proposes to inculeate. W..
should have perfectly understood it in a Spanish
jointer of the seventeenth century ; but in England.
alltl in the present times, it is quite unaccountable.
The baekgrottud represents a peasant couple dinning
to the music of their own tandantrine, 111110 a 111110111
girl is gazing wistfully upon a young fellow of her
own class, whose hands are held by a hulk-nosed
Capuchin. It' whose exhortations to adopt the cos
and quit the world he listens with a divided attention.
We do not know where Mr. ('wins discovete I that
mon as t it. seclusion is the duty of man. told we slum's'
have thought his long acquaintance shit Italy would
have opened Itis t es 1.1 the real state of conventu.+l
life in that country. particularly in Catitteltin eon
vents. 110 does not exhibit more knowledge of Italy
in other n+spects: the costume is quite utt plan, soul
his picture Is 11101.0 like the hack seems of no
opera than the I nit tiettist. *lnh we suppose it
intended to represent.
140. The 3ltssing of .lactill and Racial," r.
Dyee, 11r. Dye's paints a great deal Is.,
well to permit IN to %Milli 1.44` that, When he paints ill,
he does not du it by design. Ili,. picture is Tall of ail
the faiths of the pre-Ilaphaelito school, to which we
.uppers he beltin+zs. He bestows all his labour on
detail; the pattern of the 54*111.1.-: 111111 1110 lairders Of
the 1,01641111 S 1111:4111 %ell 11% aMS sit'! ttl 115e11111.1110....
'l'lll' foreground is lalaatred with a minuteness the
microscopic eye of Rll 110041 might appreciate ; but
his figures want beauty and expression, 111111 even
loriporti4m, tin' the Male is set lunch 'Urger t 111 It the
flint& that they hardly %Mall to 11011111...; tll 1111` %MM.
1411111•111 S. Tllll baekgrountl encroaches on the figure-.
which 1114 relieved from it, and the whole is
painted without eltiarosettre--thus voluntarily Khali
dotting the whohN eltanit Or ettect, the greatest, per
haps, whit.), a picture can 110+414N+04.
164 I'llllooll (9311 of St. Peter, destines' for a
church in Nlarylehone, reininds us of one of the
apostles of Raphael, hut the drapery 1.1 tilt 1111 into
11;1111111'1 allat 11111 11E0111111 and grim:deur are
sawing which his great protoly 111+ gives to his tua.
jest ie figures.
" The elliaes".l.ll I Of St. Thomas," by 31r..1. I'.
Knight, ICA. We lire glad 111 4191 witch 141111j0ela
Wll'l'll4l by our historical painters, and handled with
intelligence. Mr. Knight's picture exhibits 'salt
talent and industry ; but Christ's figure wants dig •
idly, and too much resembles that of a naked model.
The composition is fanlty, turns 1114 WWI:
tOWIII'IIS his 111111`4114. Wllll HIV the U111104%194 ti)
itlt‘ttlit. Mill to the 1%4114'1111a rolt‘ietioll Of their in
credulitus associate.
We are sorry to oloserVe that \lr. .‘rmitage bas not
fulfilled the expectation the public had formed of his
powers when he exhibited his prize cartoon. Ilis
!denim 1:1111 called The tit,. of Refuge" exhibits
extravagance without grandeur. mall a livid and a
lucid eoloming for which no accident of nature could
fleeistint.
Among the landscape-painters 11r. Linnet and his
twit sons have a high chain on our attention. The
two younger artists are 11.4 sets far front equalling their
father, though both 140041'55 31r.
',hotel, the elder, has studied nature with a eon
scientions minuteness and stilt a success that should
bc the model of pre-Rapintelite brethren." 'rite
g 0.1101.01 b+siturt'A of Malin' e4llll.ll—tite 101111 111111
the CO111111'; but he has not attempted to render each
vegetable fibre in the foregrtatittl—an attempt which
tlestrsoys the resemblance to nature. and Is.trays the
limits of art. Ills trees remind us Of 54M111 of the
lIPSt audios of ‘vyninil,„ lint. he produce, less breadth
of eflcet, 111111 he WOlllll 111 t well. twrltafts. 140 1111410 4.
the sinipinity and surlier colour of that elsarmilw
artist.
31r. •Intsum, W.+ niulerstand, has recently slam
dotted water cflonrs, mad we congratulate him on his
sitecess ill the higher department of the art, w,,
were much struck with his picture I 141 "Up on
the brae side." It unites skilful exeention with a
close observation of nature and It happy choiee
of
subject.
-fir. Thorburn's miniatures hardly maintain this it
former reputation. tVt' have often regretted his sum
of accurate drawing, and his unskilful compositioe—
his foxy shadows and somburnt tints ; but lie had fr.
quently a mellowness of tone, a harmony of colour,
and a general air of refinement and taste, that in-
duced Its to overlook his faults. His industry is
great, and this collection contains no less than eight
of his performances, many of them of an unusual
size and of highly-wrought execution. .1mon:.; the
most laboured of his miniatures is a full-length
pt+rtrait of Lady Constance Grosvenor t7t0.1). We
select it for criticism, not, we ran assure him, because
it is an unfavourable specimen of his powers, but, on
the contrary, becanso it is amongst his best perform:•
ante'. We are bound to admit that it is ill drawg.