The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-06 00:00:00

MAY 6, 1854.

Two Boys," by Mr. J. P. Knight, represents two
young men, the sons of the painter, the eldest of
whom, at least, has certainly emerged from boyhood,
if we may judge from a thick black beard : they
are grouped together in an attitude perhaps rather
affected than graceful, but the heads are well and
carefully painted. No. 185, " The Author of Alpha,"
by Mr. H. Weigall, jun. We are ashamed to con-
fess we have neither heard of the author norb his
book. He is represented in the flappings to Guy
Gand
black suit which immemorially help
Fawkes, a resemblance which is somewhatg increasedlly
by the scowling brows and sallow complexion.l
No. 211, " Lord Downe," by Mr. Bozall, is a.,c ever,
expressive head. No. 200, " Lord Dufferin, by Mr.
Schiffer, aims at simplicity, but is only still; and the
body rests on neither of the legs.
No. 420, "The Countess of Nithsdale Petitioning
George 1.," by Mr. Hannah. We have never seen a
subject less fitted for representation, or represented
in a less pleasing manner. No act of importunity can
be unfitting or degrading when undertaken by a wife
in the service of her husband : we can only pity Lady
Nithsdale without blaming her for the shocking
position in which she placed herself and the
sovereign by a vehemence which, by irritating and
offending him, must have rendered her intercession
ineffectual. The attitude of all the actors is ex-
aggerated, that of the King is complete caricature.
Effect is wanting, and the colouring is harsh and
gaudy.
No. 63, " Rcyal Sports on Hill and Loch. The
Queen, the Prince Consort, and the Prince of Wales ;
the Viscountess Jocelyn," by Sir Edwin Landseer.
We own we are tired of portraits of her Majesty sur•
veying the slaughter of the chase ; and we wish
some other manner might be found of uniting pot%
trait with animal life and animal death. A confused
mass of bloody game is, we should have thought, to
all a painful, and is certainly to those who are not
sportsmen a revolting, spectacle. This picture is
unfinished, and, in justice to the admirable artist,
should not have been exhibited. We venture to
offer some criticisms, however, with less reluctance,
as the faults we point out may yet be remedied.
The glowing and varied hues of autumn which light
up the distance are too vivid and too brilliant to
suffer the objects they fall upon to retain their place
in the landscape; and the figures in the foreground
have no share in the same glowing rays : they are,
on the contrary, cold and grey as the sunless morn-
ing of a wet spring. We have no doubt, when we
see this picture in its finished state, the various
parts will be placed in better harmony. The cos-
tume of the principal male figure is unpicturesque ;
but we should have thought so clever an artist might
have made more even of a grey shooting-jacket and a
cap of the same colour. The young lady in attend-
ance on the royal party has eyes as large as a mode-
rate-sized teacup. We have heard it universally
lamented that the painter has rendered so little
justice to the Queen. We trust the features will be
improved in regularity and softness, anti the resem-
blance consequently increased.
No. 403. There is no picture in the collection
that has been more admired than " The Last Sleep
of Argyle," by Mr. Ward, " painted for the Commons'
corridor by order of the royal commission." We
could have wished that, in representing a subject
destined for such a position, Mr. Ward had followed
the description of a less partial and more trust-
worthy historian than Mr. Macaulay. To realise the
description of the historian, which is given at length
in the catalogue, he has violated all historical pro-
bability :—" Argyle, after his last meal, lay down, as
was his wont, to take a short slumber, in order that
his body and mind might he in full vigour when he
should mount the scaffold. At this time one of the
lords of the council, who had probably been bred a
Presbyterian, and had been induced by interest to
join in oppressing the church of which he had once
been a member, came to the castle and demanded
admittance to the earl. It was answered the earl
was asleep. The privy councillor thought that this
was a subterfuge, and insisted on entering. The
door of the cell was softly opened, and there lay
Argyle on the bed, sleeping in his irons the placid
sleep of infancy. The conscience of the renegade
smote him."
Those who are not well acquainted with the story,
and who did not read this fanciful description, would
certainly suppose that the hypothetical renegade en-
tered the cell with some such purpose as that which
brought Macbeth to Duncan's bedchamber, or the
Gaul to the cell of Marius at Mintusnse. His
attitude expresses surprise and terror rather than
the remorse which the historian somewhat gratui-
tously attributes to him. The sleep of the prisoner
could not have surprised the experienced statesman :
the Indian slumbers at the stake, and history informs
us that sleep very seldom deserts the couch of the
weary body and the heavy soul, even on the verge
of separation. Lord Argyle died probably with the
approbation of his own conscience, and certainly with
the applause of a large and zealous party. Such reflec-
tions would have supported him underheavier trials.