The Express.
London, England, 1865-04-28 00:00:00

THE ROYAL ACADEMY•

PRIVATE VIEW.—(THIS DAT.)
A very brilliant assemblage were attracted to the
gallery of the Royal Academy this morning, invited
by the academicians, to have the lint taste of the
treat in store for the public when the exhibition
opens as usual on Monday next, the first Monday
in May. Although when the doors were opened
there were scarcely half a dozen persons waiting,
is a very short time the rooms were quite crowded
with connaisaeurs and collectors, and many ladies,
eagerly glancing over the pictures, seeking for the
works of their favourite artist, and evidently highly
delighted with the flash of beauty that struck the
eye on every side. Lord Russell was amongst
the earliest visitors, and we have not
the least doubt that the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer having deposited his budget at the feet of the
House, is at this moment indulging his well-known
love for Art in admiring the beauties of the exhi-

bition.
The picture of all others that was most the
subject of remark was Mr. Frith's magnificent
state picture of the marriage of the Prince of
Wales, painted for the Queen. This large and
stately-looking picture occupies the centre of the
large room on the left wall on entering. Nothing
that we ever remember to have seen in the way of
pictures of royal and other grand processions
at all equals this beautiful picture. The
artist has succeeded in representing this crowded
assemblage without any confusion, and at the same
time without exaggerating any of the brilliant
effects of bright colours in the gorgeous dresses. It
ie really astonishing to see how much dignity and
repose, and yet abundant animation there is in
the whole scene. The view is taken from the
right of the altar, so that the Queen is seen at the
window of her private closet, and the group of the
bride and bridegroom, the Prince about to place
the ring on the finger of the Princess, with the
train of lovely bridesmaids, attracts the eye at once
to the most interesting part of the picture. The
perspective of the interior is most cleverly managed,
and the eye follows the long line of the stalls,
richly carved, with the splendid tanners above, each
occupied by some great personage, from the Lord
Chancellor downwards, without loss of distinctness
to the furthest point away to the entrance into the
nave. This beautiful picture will be, as it well de-
serves to be, the moat generally attractive feature
in the Exhibition, and will be as universally admired
as it was this morning and will remain to be for
many years.
On the opposite wall hangs Mr. Phillips's picture,
156, "The Early Career of Murillo."
Mr. Phillips has never painted any picture
that surpasses this large work representing
Murillo as a youth, painting in the market place
of Seville. The famous painter stands with his
easel in one corner of the picture, watching the
effect of his work upon tlie two tall Dominicans in
their huge shovel hats, to whom he has handed his
picture. These two fine figures occupy the centre
of the composition, and are as wonderfully fine in
I characteristic painting as anything Velasquez
ever did. Near this group is a swarthy
gilana, carrying her infant in one arm,
and the wares she hawks about in the
shape of some curious shaped iron lamps and other
articles in common use ; she has caught sight of the
picture, and is straining to see what the wonderful
thing is the padre are admiring. The market-place
is crowded with figures—a quack doctor puffs off
his nostrums perched high above the heads
of the people ; a grandee receives the petition of
some poor dependant, a wild peasant sits near on
his donkey, an improvisatore with his guitar, a flower-
girl, and many other figured fill up the scene with
immense life, and charming variety of costume and
brilliant colour in the heaps of splendid melons
and other fruits piled on the ground.
The top of the room is occupied chiefly by a small
bead-size portrait of the Prince of Wales, by Mr.
H. Weigall, on each aide of which bang Sir Edwin
landseer's two pictures of " Prosperity" and
" Adversity " (102 and 112)—the one a superb
lady's horse held by a groom in a garden,
evidently as great a pet as the little Skye dog
begging at his aide, and the old fat foxhound and
pug lying warmly together on the lawn ; the other
picture is the same noble animal reduced to the
ranks—the cab-ranks, alas !--and looking as broken
at heart as he is broken down in body. There
are two other pictures by Landseer of
which "The Connoiseurs," 152,—tw0 fox-
hounds each looking over the shoulder
of an artist while he draws, is a study full of life
and character. At the right angle of the large room
we noticed an excellent full length of Lord
Brougham, by Mr. D. ?dunce, 'minted for the Par-
liament House, Edinburgh, in the robes as Chan-
cellor of the University of Edinburgh ;
and a half-length of the present Lord Chancellor,
painted for the benchers of the Middle Temple
by Mr. F. Grant, R.A., which is, as it ought to be,
a speaking likeness.
At the west end of the large room is hung
Mr. Goodall's (LA.) large and very strik-
ing picture, " The Rising of the Nile." (8).
Above this is a fine fresco-like figure, larger than life,
of Esau, by Mr. G. F. Watts ; a pleasing portrait of
his Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, by M.
Deranges, and an exceedingly picturesque por-
trait of the celebrated Raman model " Pascaccia "
by Mr. Lehman.
Mr. Leighton's (A. R. A.) " David " hangs on the
line in this part of the room, a finely-couoeived
seated figure of the Psalmist, his crown lying at his
feet, contemplating the heavens. The most im-
portant work of this artist occupies a prominent
place in the middle room. This is 309—" Helen of
Troy." She is walking on the walls of Troy think-
ing of Menelaus and longing to see her home once
more. She is clothed in a long loose robe
of light colour, bordered with a Greek pattern
embroidered, and seems to be gazing with a half
dreamy look towards Greece. The glaring sun of
the South pours down its rays upon her bare head,
and caste a deep purple shadow at her feet which
gives the figure a strange and mysterious
air., The face of Helen is beautiful enough to
have done all the mischief it did. There are two
attendant ladies, subordinate figures, whose faces
are scarcely seen, but they serve to harmonise the
composition. The lofty towers of Troy are seen
high against the hot sky bristling with the spears
cie the Trojans, sad beyond the walls spreads the