The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-13 00:00:00

The public has recently been warned by a critic
of considerable reputation (the author of "Modern
Painters ") against the error of confounding the
bile and the false prophets of the pre•Raphaelite
school. The " Light of the World" (No. 508), by
Mr. Hunt, is, it should seem, the masterpiece of the
true school ; and on the same authority we are in-
formed " it is the very noblest work of sacred art of
this or any other age." We ourselves do not
profess to be adepts in either school, the true
or the spurious : both appear to us equally re-
moved from truth and nature, and even from all
resemblance to the works of the ingenious and care-
ful painters who practised the art in its infancy.
These men, without a system or a plan, sought
neither to convert a picture into a puzzle or a
conundrum, but, on the contrary, to address them-
selves to those who could feel but not understand,
who could admire without being able to discover the
source of their pleasure—in a word, to render them-
selves intelligible to the ignorant and uninformed by
telling their story as plainly as the language of paint-
ing admitted—men, moreover, who, painting with
their utmost ability, availed themselves with all the
humility of genius of the discoveries of their prede
cessors, nor ever dreamed of seeking for their type
in a more remote and less cultivated age.
The pre• Raphaelite folly is one with which we have
neither patience nor sympathy; it has not even the
merit of originality. It was invented in Germany by
the beery enthusiasts of Dusseldorf and Munich, and
was imported into England after it was well-nigh
worn out on the Continent. Judging from the spe-
cimens this collection contains, we began to cherish
hopes that the clever artists who were once its dis-
ciples bad abandoned it. Mr. Hunt is, we have little
doubt, a clever and able man : he has gone we un•
derstand on a pilgrimage into Syria, and we have no
doubt he will return a wiser man. We cannot ad-
mire either the conception or the execution of the
picture that has been the object of the high eulogium
we have quoted. The Saviour is represented
with a galley lantern in his hand, knocking
at a door overgrown with ivy and flowering
shrubs, and which can never for years have been
opened on any living inhabitant. "Behold, 1
stand at the door, and knock : if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come into him and
will sup with him, and he with me."—Rev. iii. 20.
The allegory is farfetched, unintelligible, and incon-
sistent. The human heart is never empty; if not
filled with good spirits it is occupied by bad. Where
no chamber is swept and garnished, and no fire
kindled, there can be no entertainment. It is as
vain to knock at the door of a sepulchre as of a
desolate house and expect the summons will be
heard. The technical merits of this work are still

fewer. Neither the attitude nor the countenance of
the Saviour have any expression ; the opal light that
proceeds from the lantern is neither beautiful nor
poetical ; truth to any known and existing nature
the subject does not affect, but we are at a loss to
discover any careful study even in the accessories.
"The Giudecca" (No. 115), and " The Church of
Sta. Maria della Salute" (No. 200) at Venice, by
Mr. Roberts, are not painted with the usual care and
precision of that clever artist. The drawing and
perspective are not only incorrect and faulty, but all
the peculiar character of the place is lost. The
coarse and clumsy architecture belongs to the Venice
of no period ; the grey and monotonous colouring
very feebly represents its rich and varied tints; and
all objects that intercept the rays of Italian suns pro-
ject shadows very unlike the misty and heavy repre-
sentations of Mr. Roberts.
Several sea pieces by Mr. Stanfield exhibit all the
knowledge of shipping for which he is famous, and
have the peculiar freshness that belongs to the
breezy mornings of an English summer. No. 480,
" The Blithe Brook," by Mr. Creswick, is clever and
well painted ; and in " The Evening in the Meadows"
(590), by Messrs. Lee and Cowper, the cattle
drinking in the cool stream remind us of similar
subjects by the Dutch painters.
The cabinet of drawings and miniatures contains
many portraits very carefully finished, of which,
however, not a few, we regret to observe, are in-
correct in drawing, and more still possess but little
interest except for the friends of the persons re-
presented. Mr. Thorburn still retains the supe-
riority that has long been awarded to him in this
department of art.
Though England during the last century produced
painters far exceeding their contemporaries on the
Continent, and though we may justly claim, if not
the invention, the perfectioning of water colours, we
cannot boast of one great sculptor. Flaxman was a
great designer; Chantrey was excellent only in
portrait. Our clever artists who have passed their
l.•ves in Rome are the pupils of another school, and
owe little beyond their birth to their native country.
The department of sculpture, never well represented
in this collection, is this year peculiarly behindhand.
We regret to observe that the prevalent bad taste
which has so sensibly affected our painters has had
a still greater influence on our sculptors. Sculpture