The Express.
London, England, 1864-11-02 00:00:00

PICTUHM.

There in no objection, as far aa we can see, to
the practice of picture-dealers in getting together a number
of pictures and inviting the public to see them. The exhi-
bition just opened at 53, Pall-mall, is one of this kind, and
decidedly a good one. It contains IGB pictures, • large per-
centage of which are well worth seeing. In landscape sub-
jecte it is perhaps richer than the exhibition at the French
gallery. Two, entirely new, by the elder Linnet!, are
alone worth a visit. The subjects of these are, we might
almost say of course, "Scenes in Surrey," only that one,
of them (117) is celled " Windsor Forest fifty years ago."
aca the opposite well of the gallery hang several
pictures by the sons of this extraordinary landscape painter,
and the comparison of their pictures with those of
their father and master will be most interesting to those
who care to study an artist's mode of working. There
is no doubt but in the Linnells' we have the nucleus
of a noble school of landscape painting, threatened,
however, with • great danger—that of begetting man-
maim in it pupils. It may be as natural for the
sons of Mr. Linnell to paint like their father as it is for the
handwriting of any son to resemble that of his father ; but
we have only to turn to some other pictures in this
collection—say, for example, to those of Mr. C. Stan-
field—to see how easily the habit of imitation
fixes itself in the practice of the young painter.
and holds him a slave for ever afterwards. We shall, how-
ever, be better employed at present, perhaps, in indicating
the character of some of the more noticeable works on view.
Conspicuous amongst the figure-subjects is a picture by Mr.
E. M. Ward, a reproduction of his " Death of Montrose,"
which loses in force by being rendered on • smaller scale
than the original painting. Mrs. E. M. Ward has com-
pletely adopted her husband's style, but at the same time
works with something more than a merely imitative faculty.
Her picture (36) on the subject of the " Princes in the
Tower "is one of the best she has yet produced. Mr. A.
Johnstone has two pictures (IV and 127), both painted in
his clean bright manner, and both touched with a senti-
ment that always seems capable of stronger expression.
The better of the two pictures is 127, representing the
parting of Robie Adair and the lady at the door of the
theatre, and illustrative of the passage in the balled :
. . .

Ana when the play was o er
What m=ale my heart sae sair
it was pariah.: with
Ittibin Adair.
Sidney Cooper and David Roberts are both represented by
characteristic works, and the same may be said of Red-
, grave and Creswick. John Phillip has one picture here,
but that one is a splendid specimen, a half-length figure of a
Spanish woman, painted with extraordinary boldness. We
hardly remember any example of colouring by this master
at once so daring and so harmonious in the opposition of the
colours selected for the drapery of the figure. It is putting
Mr. W. C. T. Dobson's picture (75), "The Fire Gatherer,"
to a severe teat, to turn to it immediately after leaving Mr.
Phillip's ; few pictures would bear it with advantage ; and
certainly Mr. Dobson's will not, any more th►n one of Sir C.
Eastlake', would. There is great merit in the picture here
exhibited ; it is indeed one of the very best be Las ever
painted, rich in colour, harmonious in tone, and pervaded
by real sentiment, but it lacks what we must venture to
call manly strength ; it is all sweetness—and cloys. Before
putting down the catalogue, we may call attention to (LW),
"San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice," by Mr. J. B. Pyue.
This picture is worthy of being better hung, and is interest.
Mg as affording something like a promise of an improved
style of colouring by this excellent painter. For a long time
past his pictures have appeared "chalky" in tone. In the
present work there is no such fault ; the sky especially is
painted with a warmth and transparency that leave little to
be desired. The water, again, is capitally painted. We re-
gret that the composition of the picture is not equally satis-
factory with the painting. The foreground, on the right of
the spectator, we think • mistake; it wants breadth and
repose to be in keeping with the rest of the picture, the op-
posite side of which is excellent. The sea views of Mr. E.
Hayes, of the Irish Academy, deserve attention for the
knowledge of nature which their execution indicates ; there
is • real salt water look about their breaking waves that
nothing but • likeness to nature can give. The fault of thie
painter is a certain artificiality of composition ; his piece of
wreck, or fisherman's boat, is mostly too judiciously placed,
—he does not sufficiently value the accidental s& • source of
picturesque effect.