The Express.
London, England, 1855-02-10 00:00:00

EXHIBUIONTISH OF
INSTICUTION PAINTINGS AT THE
BRI.

(awed Notts.).
We were always admirers of Mr. Telbin, whose
▪ Mont Orgueil, Jersey" (189), beads the list in the
middle room. This gentleman's drawing and odour-
lag both undoubtedly smack of the easmeesems
which source we may trace the great hoes of deems
sad the sweet feebleness of the Wm 'Ann tea'
charm about his atmosphere that law easy
end two or three modern artists °sly hays arri
at the tests and freedom of his enerieseries. Were
we under the impression that his an those
veils could be an object to Mr. elithtiivre siwatil
exclaim against the iopiatioe and injury done to Me
merit and prospects by his being meowed into his
present corner. He is not, however, in bad
for hard by is the" Runaway Knock" of 0. Cr •
kslrt
(190).A blazing footman ands pceeeof lap-dogsamessa
tearing to the gate of an old-maidenly "redeem to
Paiute, according to their nature, an usweisssas
tramp, or rebuke • runaway. The panting Jewess
and his troop of yelping allies form the avowed
gmard only. Within, a macaw swings wildly fu his
cage, a at on the window sill sets op her bask, and
the mistress of all and her Abigail scowl direfully
over the blinds. We coincided heartily with the
quiet judgment of a spectator who soliloquised,. Was
vote, " What • nice house to live in." This Is the
low comedy picture of the collection, with the one
exception of " The Rejected Picture" by Mr. 8..
Smart (350), which represents the desolated hearth
of an artist on the return of a rejected work. We
resume the blighted being to have been intended
or Smart himself, as be would have appeared had
the British Institution been deaf to his, appeal—in
fact, just ready for suicide.
Forty reasons might have been found for rejecting
his addresses; but, no. Either some sly trustee
thought the chance of a quaint joke too good to be
thrown away, or some Paterfamilias took the implied
threat au wises:, and there Mr. Smart hangs, as a
sign and a token, a farce in which the picture, the
painter, sod the institution play their parts, to the
great edification of the British public.
Surely this work of art should have yielded the
valuable square feet of space it occupies in favour of
Mr. Pitt'. " View of Raglan" (195), Mr. Whaite's
"Vale of Dolwydellan" (194), or Mr. Gosling's
"Shady Lane" (220), most inexcusably promoted to
the sky line. " Age's Consolation," by Hicks (203),
is a very floe work, and may be classed with the
"Concierge," by Miss Browolow (171). Mr. Jut-
sum's works (234, 279, and 180) are as usual, clever,
smooth, highly-finished, mechaniCal, interesting,
unpoetical, and unambitious.
Messrs. Aesdell and Creswick have painted their
partnership picture on one canvas (The Park, 243);
we and others would prefer it cut in halves.
The "Old Lizard Head," by W.Williams, is a
floe work, correct in all particulars, and should
have been on the line. The character of to
Serpentioe rock is very accurately rendered. Mr.
J. Danby's works (235, 332, 412) show him to be the
colourist, as his brother is the poet, of the veteran's
family. Mr. Copley Fielding'' Landscape in
Tilgats Forest" is a grand and effective performance,
recalling forcibly the works of Gaspar Poussin. The
taste and colouring of Mr. Stubby/ "At the Well"
(294) are very pleasing; and the "Angel's Whisper"
of Mr. Deane (205) is • floe picture, which we should
like to see again, when the reds are a
little rue down. Mr. George Stanfield's
"Castle of Cameron (300), is solid and of good
texture; his Yorkshire view, also, " Birk Crag" (252),
-evince' power in selection, composition, and the
management of distance. r. G. Smith (307) and
Mr. Hemaley (327) have each given a pleasing ver-
sion of a bird -trapping party. It would be invidious to
draw a comparison. The subject attracts considerable
attention to both works, which are most carefully
treated and interesting. Mr. Wingfield's " Painter's
Study" (316) is " • great fact." The scene is laid in
the ci.devant Clipstone-street Academy, and is a
faithful piece of interior work. This is a felicitous
picture, and its charm was attested by a rapid sale.
Mr. J. A. Fitzgerald has succeeded in making an
unrepulsive " nigger piece,"" Lilly Mute" (319) : his
workmanship seems to be good, and the effect is
certainly not unpleasing.
Mr. Lear's Windsor Castle from St. Leonard's-
hill" (317) is the landscape of greatest pretension in
this room, and we are happy td admit great genius
and force in its execution. Many, we are aware,
cannot own that trees are ever of Mr. Lear's colour.
That is an affair of vision and its education—on
which we are not expected to write an essay; but
we will gainsay no one who shall declare that the
squirrel in the foreground should be sent to keep
company with the megatheria at Sydenham. Looked
at from a proper distance the picture is a success.
Mr. H. J. Johnson has two very charming lake
views, Lugano and Como (212, 323). This pupil of
the lamented Muller attains a sweet transparency of
tone bet not his master's characteristic force. His
earth, air, and water leave us little to wish for: the
"set piece" on the left of the Como is perhaps too
decidedly scenic. "The Poacher" (331) is a spirited
dog study by W. W. Morris.
NV e have deferred for the conclusion of the middle
room the notice of Mr. Linton's great work, " An
Old Tower" (211), and of Mr. Sidney Percy's "Bar-
mouth Water" (191). The former is a fine example
of the grand old school, and the latter a fair speci-
men of the meretricious. None can deny that Mr.
Percy has the fatal gift of facility, or that his works
are often pleasing; but in a critical point of view we
are obliged to regard him as the head of a school of
offenders who devote power that should achieve solid
triumphs to- the mere rapid supply of the market
with saleable insipidities, which appear to be
turned out by the t ozen. The pencil that some
years back painted " the quiet pool " might
by this time have advanced far beyond the papier
torkhE style of workmanship
.of which No. 191 is a
opeimen. The hands which might wise Nature in her
ovary fastness and bind her to their asst, are eon-
sing themselves to everlasting repetitions of a single
suet caught in a limited district. It is true, the
bay distances vie not unsuccessfully with the pose
serene of the theatre : but we are only echoing the
suasion of the general and artistic public when we
cry that this is an end unworthy of Mr. Sidney
Pert7's talents, at least.
The South Room opens with a capital picture of
the Dog school, by Mr. Bottomley, No. 348. Each
head is, we presume, a portrait—they are cunningly
arranged, and the landscape is excellent.
Mr. T. Earl again is felicitous in " The Hot
Breakfast" (349). The dog waiting for his meal
to cool looks quite sensible enough to blow it.
Mr. Provis, we observe, has travelled to Brittany
for materials. It was time—the British varieties
of pots, pans, pails, and pie-dishes, having been com-
pletely worked out, as far as he was concerned. His
ulterior', Nos. 398 and 446, are indeed very beauti-
fully painted, and his figures well introduced. Mr.
Henderson, a most painstaking student in the same
walk, has a long stern chase before him ere
he can get abreast of his confrere just mentioned.
Colour is his great forte; his pieces, 389
and 451, " Spinning a Yarn," and " Watching the
Sleeper," show great care, and are clever, but
we do not encourage him to cramp his genius too
tightly to this miniature school. Mr. Zeitter has
favoured the exhibition with one of his very best
works, "A Ride in the Hartz" (436). This
artist, who can present nothing without the true
stamp of talent, is not invariably so well defined as
to secure the eye of the uninitiated, or the praise of
the connoisseur; but on this occasion he has as-
sociated enough finish with his natural force to
warrant a note of admiration. Mr. Earl charms the
spectator once more with his poetised " Dream of the
Shepherd's Dog" (464); and pausing before Mr.
Deane's most pleasing " Happy Mother" (470),
we reach the eel of the room, and Mr. Mark An-
thony's large" Woodyard "(472). After some years'
total abstinence from these walls, his re-appearance
is welcome. He will reap a far greater harvest of
admiration from his skilful treatment of the fragments
and chips than the world were disposed to concede
to his enormous coup mampie of " The Forest
Monarch." The sky effect of the present warkis
hardly satisfactory, end a more artistic combiaation
might have been selected. Altogether, allowing tbe
masterly painting of the absolute wood, we ouassists
this work to be below the average of Mr. Anthony's
productions.
" Sunshine and Shade " (486), by 0. Middleton, is
a carefully and well painted out-door picture. His
foregrosad rooks nighties he well know, have been