The Press.
London, England, 1856-08-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

to those principles on which the society was estab
lished if they added very materially to that propor-
tionate amount of expenses which the annual
account printed for every subscribe: sets forth in
detail, or imported into this institution the feelings
and machinery of a keen trade competition.

It appears that for the ensuing year each subscriber
will be entitled to two engravings, " The Piper,"
engraved by Mr. E. Goodall, from the picture by Mr.
Frederick Goodall, A.R.A., and " The Clemency of
Comr-de-Lion," engraved by Mr. Shenton, from a
picture by Mr. Cross. We learn, also, from the
report, that the council of the Art Union have ex-
tended the power of selecting pictures to the exhibi-
tions at the Royal Scottish and Royal Hibernian
Academies. It says :
With reference to the selection of works of art by prize-
holders in the present and future distributions, your coun-
cil have to state that, listening to representations made to
them from Scotland and Ireland, the exhibitions of the
Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Hibernian Academy
have been added to the list of those from which, under
stated conditions, works may be taken by prizeholders.
Another comparatively new rule is announcdd in
the succeeding paragraph :
The arrangements made last year that every member
who shall have subscribed for ten consecutive years, and
shall not have gained a prize of any kind in that period,
shall be entitled to one of the porcelain busts of Clytie,
appears to have given very general satisfaction, and will be
continued in operation ; the result of which, of course, will
be that every constant subscriber will obtain a prize, at
any rate, once in ten years.
The report then enters upon the result of the
Paris Exhibition with respect to English art :
The English school (it says) extorted admiration at all
hands in many important particulars ; its deficiencies,
where they exist, were seen to be mainly attributable to a
circumstance already briefiy alluded to—the want of oppor-
tunity for the development of historical art on a large scale.
From the trying ordeal to which it was subjected it came
out unscathed.

Our bronzes, also, though limited in manufacture,
are reported as having exhibited much improvement,
but the general ignorance of design among our
artisans is the subject of some wholesome sugges-
tions :

The Paris Universal Exhibition proved how much our
manufacturers are impeded by the want of artistic skill on
the part of our artisans, and afforded the strongest reasons,
in a commercial point of view, for making a knowledge of
art general. In our cabinet work, carpets, paperhangings,
in whatever involved design, the indifference that has been
shown to the cultivation of the English artisan made itself
apparent. If the Manchester manufacturers were to tell
us what they expend annually in France for designs, and
we we e to learn the statistics of the Paris trade in the
branches we have already mentioned, to say nothing of
ormolu, lamps, and jewellery, we should see that attention
in this respect will pay, even financially. It has been
shown in a recent report to the Committee of Privy
Council for Trade, that the more elaborate technical pro-
cesses of fine carving, incrusting in mosaic, marquetry,
buhl, etched metal, engraved ivory, elaborate fret-cutting.
and many other processes taxing art•labour, are now
scarcely attempted in English cabinet work. And, as the
reporter says: " When we consider how sadly unmindful
we have been for the last three generations of national
education, industrial and artistic, how can we wonder that
such defects should make themselves apparent, when we
publicly enter the lists with other countries whose more
parental Governments have opened free schools for work-
men, free public I.braries, free museums, and other institu-
tions open to artisans of all kinds, and at times when their
habits and means enable them to avail themselves of the
opportunities offered for self-improvement?" No means
should be neglected to educate the public eye, and it should
be remembered, as we have often before urged, that every
ugly carpet laid down, every ill-proportioned and un-
sightly building set up, aids in preventing the acquirement
of a pure taste, and is an injury to the community at large.
The fine art section of the Universal Exhibition served to
show that art was not limited to any clime, and enabled the
student to weigh the various merits and defects of the
modern schools of painting.

The report then alludes briefly to the establish-
ment of the different schools of art in the metropolis,
and concludes :

To return more immediately to ourselves, the beneficial
effects of the Art Union of London, and other kindred in-
stitutions, must not be estimated only by what they accom-
plish at present. Their influence on the future is still
more important, and holds out higher encouragement to
art and those who labour to advance it. The common
mind at home and in our colonies is becoming imbued
with a love of art never before felt ; the results of which
will be more strikingly apparent in the next generation ;
when, not merely a few wealthy individuals or occasional
associations will be its patrons, but the gratification of a
taste for refined art will be a necessity of the general body
of the people. Thus a more elevated class of subjects,
and more independence of mind in the treatment of these,
will characterise the artists of that day, when sure that
their productions will be properly appreciated, and meet
their due reward. For though we know that genius will
ever struggle on, and even continue to utter the cry
" Excelsior " when sinking, overwhelmed by the snows and
chilling atmosphere of that higher region where be had
hoped to bask in perpetual sunshine, this swelling of the
already long list of the `• inheritors of unfulfilled renown "
is most likely to be averted by an enlarged and appreciative
public.

789

DEATH OF MADAME VESTRIS.

MADAME VESTRIS, after a lingering illness and ex-
treme suffering for many weeks from that terrible
disease, cancer, died last Friday, at midnight,
at her house, Gore-lodge, Fulham. The daughter
of the engraver Bartolozzi, she was born in 1797,
and from the first gave evidence of extraordinary
abilities as a musician and a linguist. In 1813 she
was married to M. Armand Vestris, the principal
dancer at and ballet-master of the then King's
Theatre, in the Haymarket, and soon after made her
debut on the stage as Proserpina in the °pry, of Il
Ratto di Proserpina. Having scarcely made the
sensation which was expected, she did not remain in
London, but accompanied her husband to Paris,
where she played for some time in drama and
tragedy in the French language. On her return to
England in 1819, she accepted an engagement with
Mr. Elliston, at Drury Lane, and Mozart's opera of
Don Giovanni being at that time at the height of its
popularity, she shortly afterwards established her
tame in a burlesq'ie of that masterpiece called
Giovanni in London, in which she as the hero, at d
Harley as Leporello, created an extraordinary sensa-
tion. From this time her success was complete, and
she reigned the favorite of the London public bolt
at Drury Lane and Covent Garden, playing what is
technically termed "first light comedy," such as
Lydia Languish in The Rivals, Letitia Hardy in
The Belle's Stratagem, Miss Hardcastle in She
Stoops to Conquer, ctc. In the year 1829 she be-
came lessee of the Olympic Theatre, which she
transformed into the most elegant "temple of the
drama" in London. There Iv, re first produced
those brilliant extravaganzas and revues of Messrs.
Planche and Charles Dance, upon which their fame
is built. On the 7th of December, 1835, Mr. Charles
Mathews, who had been brought up as an architect,
made his first appearance on the stage at the
Olympic, in a farce called the Old and Young
Stager, in which he was admirably supported by
Liston, at that time the prop of the establishment.
In 1838 Madame Testris, whose husband had died
in 1825, married Mr. Charles Mathews, and, leaving
the Olympic under the management of Mr. Planche,
they immediately started for America. With our
Transatlantic neighbours, however, the favorites of
the Olympic were a failure, and they returned to
England in 1839, in the September of which year
they entered upon the lesseeship of Covent Garden.
Under their management were produced some of the
chefs-d'ceuvre of modern dramatic authorship, among
which may he mentioned London Assurance, Time
Works Wonders, Old Heads and Young Hearts, and
some excellent pantomimes, The Castle of Otranto,
the Great Bed of Ware, &c., and some of Mr.
Planche's best burlesques. The speculation, how-
ever, did not answer, and the lessees gave up manage-
ment in April, 1842. After this they accepted a
short temporary engagement at Drury Lane with
Mr. ?decreed), and a more lengthened one with Mr.
Webster, at the Haymarket. In 1846 Mr. and Mrs.
Mathews joined Mr. Maddox's company at the
Princess's, and in the autumn of 1847 they opened
the English Opera house, in Wellington-street, under
the name of the Lyceum. Madame Vestris played
two or three important parts, such as the Wonderful
Woman and the Pride of the Market, and made a
great hit in more pathetic characters, as, for instance,
in Mr. Slingsby Lawrence's Chain of Events, and in
the translation of Madame de Girardin's play, La
Joie fait Peur, under the name of Sunshine through
the Clouds. But her strength now began to fail her,
and she principally confined herself to the direction
of the stage, in which she showed that taste and
talent for which we have before described her as
being so remarkable. For the occasion of her hus-
band's benefit, on Wednesday, July 26, 1854, she
made her last appearance, in Sunshine through the
Clouds, and since that time she has been confined
always to the house, and principally to her roma.
As an artist who united the character of the vocalist
with that of the actress of genteel comedy in parts
where song was not required, the reputation of
Madame Vestris is, we believe, unique, and to t'iis
must be added the fame of being one of the most
distinguished managers who ever governed a
theatrical property.

790