The Express.
London, England, 1865-02-06 00:00:00

MI, FEBRUARY 6, 1865.

FINE ARTS.

THE BRITISH INSTITUTION.
The exhibition of the works of British artists,
whisk this institution for promoting the fine arts
arlms
uad
every year was opened to the public to-
day. he usual private view afforded on Saturday
' snub us to give some indication of the general
eh of the exhibition. To say that it was
possible to examine properly all the pictures would be
tantamount to asserting that these "private views"
are intended to show the works of the artists in a

egiesually becoming and efficient manner. On the
contrary, the worthy directors evidently proceed
upon the Noes a non lucendo principle, cramming
their narrow gallery with crowds of inordinately
expansive ladies and garrulous old gentlemen eon-
nowears, who apparently bare not tho least idea
that the pictures are to be looked at, and that they
oume there for anything in the world but to gossip
in front of the best pictures. This was not the
only hied of obstacle to seeing fairly ; there was •
more direct and positive one in the sweeping away
of the eatalegue numbers from the frames, several
ce ethic* were to be seen kicking about the floor.
‘Surely no purchaser would be no rash as to buy a
Apiature he could only catch sight of through
Qke breaks in the crowd, and certainly, if any other
uleiest*la be attained, it would helmets, tnhave.
the privite view on a public day, when, as far as we
have observed, the gallery is comparatively deserted.
No. 1 " The Death of Caviar," by IL Ans-
dell, A.IL A., is a sufficiently self averting pie-
, tune not to escape notice, though it tells a
story of a Caesar very different from the " Mort de
Cdsar" of M. Germ*. The hero that lies here at
the foot of the statue of Pompey, "no worthier
than the dust," is a big black muzzled mastiff, killed
in a fight, and has evidently been a terrific bully to
all the other dogs seen turning and sneaking away
with tail between their legs ; and the " Pompey"
is a favourite in bronze mounted on a granite
pedestal, at the corner of which hangs an
settnorfeUe wreath. The pieture is an amusing
one enough, and the dogs are drawn with
the artist's customary ability, but these semi-
caricatures of dogs with • human moral
are by no means acceptable in art. Dog cha-
racter his abundant significance of its own,
and we do not get a truer idea of it
by importing something human into those faces'
to which nature has denied a laugh or a tear. Sir,
IEII win Landseer himself has sometimes very nar-
rowly escaped the same easy mistake, as, for ex-
ample, in his famous "Poodle Lord Chancellor,"
a dog with • woolly head, wonderfully suggestive of
profundity of knowledge in law, which belonged to
the noted Count d'Orsay. Sir Edwin shows himself
a master in dog portraiture in his picture (86)
"Dear old Boz," • brown silky-haired Skye do&
which we have heard was • pet of the late Duchess
of Kent's, and is now honoured by being painted
for the Queen. But the lover of dogs and horses
will be more pleased with Sir Edwin's picture of the
kennel in winter (189), "No hunting till the
weather breaks." The huntaman's horse, with the
red coat across the pommel of the saddle, stands
amongst the hounds out in the falling snow, and
the bare trees against a dark wintry sky that
threatens • heavy fall, make up the picture. The I
true hound physiognomy is wonderfully well touched
in the beads of these dogs, though there is no great
amount of high finish in the picture, which is rather
• masterly sketch in oils, and none of the hounds
show more than half the figure. It is in this power
of doing so much with very little display of his
means that marks all Sir Edwin's later works.
(204.) "An Event in the Forest "—a deer and
hound fallen over • precipice—exhibits the great
animal painter in his wilder mood of the chase of
the deer in the Highland forests, which are not tree
forests, but rugged mountain sides clad with fern
and heather.
In cattle painting there is nothing in the exhibi-
tion very remarkable, with the exception of Mr.
Aster Corbould's "Drovers' Halt—the Highlands"
(619), a picture which shows • perfect familiarity
with these picturesque beasts, and altogether a
very good example of grouping a crowded herd of
cattle.
Mr. A. Gilbert paints a striking view of " The
Black Mountain in Argyle (212)," in all the dreariness
of early winter and at midnight. Nothing could well
surpass the good painting in this picture, but the
effect is not quite satisfactory to the eye of an
artist, because the source of light, whether the
moon or the light natural to the midnight in the
mountains of the north, is not shown in the pic-
ture. It is this which, with • certain enamel-like
quality of colour, gives the picture that unpleasant
sort of melodramatic air frequently noticeable iu
landscapes by this artist, which in other respects
are so meritorious.
Mr. Dawson is • landscape painter whose pic-
tures have been noticed at this exhibition with
much interest for the originality of treatment and
choice of subjects, as well as a thoroughly good
method of painting—pure in the tints and harmo-
nious in the general tone of oolour. The large view
of " London from Vauxhall" (195) may be spoken
of without hesitation as one of the finest pictures
of its kind ever painted. There are qualities ob-
servable in this work which have made Turner and
Dauby celebrated, and entitle Mr. Daw-
eon to a very high position amongst the
landscape painters of England, which is
as much as to say the best of the world.
He has, like • poet of his art, thrown the pure
breath of morning over the great smoky city and the
defiled Thames, and given just that delightful
touch of freshness and beauty which nature
cheers the workman with as he goes to his daily
toil with the rising sun. All the objects are as com-
mon as dirt itself, yet there is nothing common or
vulgar in the manner ; so just and true is the effect,
that though the picture is amazingly brilliant, yet it
has all the charming modesty and reserve of nature.
The sky, with its vast spread of pearly clouds,
through which the rich light finds its way to touch
every feathery form with silver and gold, seems full
of endless passages of beauty, and the river echoes
back all this glorious song of colour. This may be
fairly said, however inadequately the picture was
to be seen as it hangs on the line at the side of the
narrow and crowded room.
Another large landscape, placed as if for compari-
son near this fine picture of Mr. Dawson's, is •
view of the Cordilleras of Ecuador, by L. R. Mig-
not (179), in which the most elaborate attempts
have been expended in trying to bring the burning
glare of the tropics on the canvas, and yet there is
no sunlight in the picture. Without having wit-
uessed the real tropical landscape, we cannot accept
this droll assemblage of strange forms of vegetation;
such exotics of the studio do not commend them-
selves to ones botanical notions of propriety.
Mr. Moment' also contributes a very large land-
scape, 601 " Hampstead-heath," which, clever and
bold as it is in the painting, is deficient in so much
of the nicer qualities of the natural landscape that
it comes rather into the category of scene-painting.
We shall not deny the ability to block out, as it
were, in colour these gaunt fir trees and the rough,
heathy ground with all the aplomb and vigorous
energy of • Gustave Dord, but there is none of the
real charm of art in this kind of painting.
Mr. E. Gill has long been gaining ground as an
expert painter of the thickly-wooded glens and pic-
turesque waterfalls of Wales ; he has improved his
style by a study of the bolder scenery of the
Clyde. 291, "Stonebyres above the Fall,' is a very
finely treated subject, admirably well painted iotbe
sound orthodox fashion of Lee, with more doling,
of colour, however, and better feeling for the
mess of of tree form.
" Quietude " (58) is the name given by Mr. J.W.
Oakes to his deep-tone evening picture of a dark,
still lake beneath a darker mountain, above whist'
is a flaming cloudy sky. There is certainly nothing
of " quietude " in the use of the paint, which has
evidently been laid on with too furious a hand, a