The Express.
London, England, 1866-05-04 00:00:00

THE ROYAL ACADEMY.

PRIVATE VIEW.—(THIS DAY.)
The brilliant May morning that smiled upon the
Academy to-day, after the cloudy gloom of yester-
day, seemed to mark with unusual favour the annual
event of the artists. The spacious rooms were rapidly

filled, first with the moat interested of all comers

the painters themselves, and some of their best
patrons, the great picture dealers and their
clients. But amongst the earliest it was most
gratifying, and happily most significant for

the welfare and Interest of art and ar-

tists, to see there the Prime Minister and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and not the less
auspicious certainly that Earl Russell was accom-
panied by Lady Russell, and Mr. Gladstone
by Mrs. Gladstone. Her Graoe the Duchess of
Argyll, escorted by one of the young Lairds of
the house, was also amongst the first arrivals ; and
the Bishop of Oxford, who is rarely absent where
art is to be discussed, was to be seen one of the

most interested and animated of the connoisseurs

who soon filled the galleries.
The exhibition will, we think, be univer-
sally pronounced a very interesting one,
not remarkable for any very great achieve-
ment by the academicians, unless we except
Mr. Maclise's study for his great fresco
picture in the House of Parliament, which
is unquestionably his chef d'ceuvre, but highly in-
teresting in the great amount of varied talent
shown by the rising men and the matured work of
those of the associates, like Mr. O'Neil, Mr. Leigh-
ton, Mr. Anadell, Mr. Calderon, and Mr. Dobson.
Those young painters, too, who have not yet reached
the first step to the threshold of the Academy, have
also done well. The great room never presented a
finer appearance than this year. At the top of the
room hangs Sir Edwin Landseer's delightfully
natural picture of the white Arab mare and
foal lying under an Indian tent, on the
top of which sport two monkeys, and under it,
in snug comfort of skins and rugs, two hounds.

Above this fine work is Mr. Phillip's striking por-
trait of the Lord Justice of Scotland ; and to the
right is Sir Edwin's long-contemplated work,
"Lady Godiva"—a charming picture of a horse,
but the lady not quite so dainty a beauty. The
picture is called " Lady Godiva's prayer," and she
raises her arms to heaven as she starts on the
devoted penance on behalf of the citizens of
Coventry. There is also a most life-like sketch in
crayons by our great animal painter, in a large life-
size group, of a stag chased by a hound. Mr.
Maclise's noble study of the Trafalgar Victory
occupies the centre wall on the left and
is, if possible, a more: impressive picture
than the great fresco, for the scene comes more
readily under the eye. Opposite to this is Mr.
Phillip's admirable work, which wo have described
below, while the end of the room is occupied by
Mr. Goodall's beautiful version of the favourite
subject, "Hagar and Ishmael," a work in which the
artist has surpassed himself in the magnificent
landscape of the desert, and the fine expression
given to the figure of Nagar, who is seen not
despairing over the fainting boy, but in fierce and
determined spirit striding out over the dreary
desert.

Mr. O'Neil's picture fills the right angle of the
great room on entering, and in the corresponding
place is Mr. Calderon's charmingly simple, but very
richly painted, picture of a little child queen, it
might be Anne of Brittany, passing in great state
along a corridor, with her attendants and
train bearers. It is called " Her most
high, noble, and puissant grace." Mr. Frith,
R.A., contributes a small but extremely
well conceived picture of Widow Wadman and
Uncle Toby (73), the lovely widow tracing the
battle on the map as the old boy tells
his story, and looking into his face with be-
witching archness. Mr. Hook, R.A., has several of
his seacoast scenes, none of which, however, struck
us as quite so good as some of his former works of
the same kind. Mr. Frost, A.R.A., contributes a
large picture of " Dancing Nymphs," suggested by
the verso " Come unto these yellow sands." Mr.
Yeames, in a picture of " Queen Elizabeth receiving
the French Ambassador after the news of the
Massacre of the Huguenots," shows a decided
advance ; in the heads of the figures there is very
great variety of character, and the whole composi-
tion is managed with very great technical skill.
Mr. E. Nicol's " Paying the Rent," (335), an
Irish tenant scone, is a picture, that for racy
humour reaches a point that Wilkie himself, or
even Ostado, never touched.
Mr. Ansdell, A.R.A., contributes some good ex-
amples of his talent, and in ono picture especially,
" The Posada," with a party of Spanish country
people dancing, he displays all the best
qualities of colour and picturesque composition.
In Spanish subjects, however, there is another
remarkable success from Mr. Burgess, the painter
of the " Bravo Toro," of last year ; it is a Spanish
hawker selling fans and trinkets at a fair (350), and
nothing can be more full of humour and charac-
teristic incident than this man and the groups
around him.
Mr. H. B. W. Davis sends another noble work
of animal painting, chosen like his last from
the broad plains of Artois, it represents two teams
ploughing, with the young colts gallopping wildly
over the furrow by the side of their dams. A
similar scene has been admirably painted on a
smaller scale, by Mr. W. H. Hopkins (525.)
Two large pictures of rifle matches will be re-
garded with much interest ; the one represents
rifle practice in the old times in Scotland—called a
" Wappenschaw"—by Mr. T. Faed ; the other is
by Mr. Wells, and is a most clever portrait piece
of a party of volunteers at Wimbledon, the figures
being nearly life-size.
Mr. V. C. Prinsep has painted a large picture
of a feats. party on the Lido, Venice, less
remarkable, except for its size, than moat
of his former works. Mr. Marks maintains
his reputation for humorous painting in a
picture called " The Notary " (565), with a bash-
ful Flemish couple come to be married, and Mr.
Leslie's " Clarissa " (410) may vie with anything
in the exhibition for delicious evening tone in the
landscape and charming sentiment in the figure,
reading a love-letter by the quiet fish-pond.
Mr. Ward, R.A., contributes only one picture,
and this a comparatively unpretending one of two
figures—Leicester and Amy Robeart. We may
suppose the courtier earl is seated in some splen-
did chamber at Kenilworth, and has consented to
gratify the devoted lady's often expressed wish to
see him in full court dress, with all his orders on
his breast. Amy Robsart, as beautiful as paint
can make her, has half fallen at the feet of Leioes-
ter, and plays with the jewelled Order of the Garter
hanging from his neck. Leicester is—if not quite
the man—at least superbly arrayed in all the luxury
of costume and colour that Mr. Ward is so com-
pletely master of.
Mrs. Ward, after whose name we really ought
to be able to write R.A., has a very clever picture
of poor Palissy, the patter, in despair at another

failure of his oven ; his whole batch of suatift
fsguiines lying broken on the floor of the smith*
cabin of a house, his children, half-starved, 1006111
on in dismay, and his termagant wife, who looksi
to settling all the bills with the success of thh
baking, bringing in the neighbours to witness Os
mad folly of her husband.

Mr. Phillip, R.A., could not be ex
come out with another such magnificent
of his prowess as the " Murillo " of last year,
he has given us a gem of artistic beauty and
lightful humour in hissmallpicture "A Chat ,
the Bremer° " (No. 132)—egroup of two mk
ladiesand two mischievous beauties, with their
feet on tho warm brazier, one immoderately
the other trying to restrain her laughter at
story which the padre is telling with as much
liberation as unctuous relish, while he lights
cigarette from a piece of burning wood. xi
Phillip has also a superb full-length portrait of At
Lord-Advocate of Scotland, which might be rem
pared with Velasquez for the mastery of
painting, which hangs at the top of the large ro
A small portrait study (533) of a Spanish left
is an admirable specimen of rich colour and refs*
ment in expression.
' Mr. Leighton, A.R.A., one of the youngest
most promising members of the Academy, hm
chosen a fine subject which suited admirably his sy
quisite taste for beauty of the refined and dm*
order, in his large picture representing a " Proems:,
of Syracusan Brides to Saaifioe at the Altar
Diana," suggested by an allusion of Theocrite
his second Idyll. In its long and narrow form ski
picture resembles the work which brought th
young painter his first fame, " Cimabue, wits th
Procession of Florentines bearing his Picture d
the Virgin to the Church of St. Maria Novella ;^)A{
it will be found to be a more important work, so
one in which there is much more matured power,
The beautiful Greek girls are shown in every font
and type of antique beauty, some carrying gull*
others leading leopards, young tigers, and paatbea,
and one principal beauty, separated from the rem
in the centre of the picture, leading a limo
decked with flowers ; all are moving along skid
of raised marble platform leading to the temple,
before which the veiled priestesses of the MO
goddess are making their acts of reverence, vlula
below we see the heads and half figures of du
people—an old man and a dark eastern man vitt
some boys,whose swarthy forms contrast with audit
oT the refined beauty of the scene above. Thai
are twenty-six figures in the picture, and every ore
is painted u ith the same exquisite grace and feel*
for beauty that the artist shows in his milk
works, and in many respects, as in the :
with even mole elaborate care ; and yet the is
markable work was begun and finished in lid
more that six months. There is certainly no pis
ture in the t xhibition which will excite more wan
an 1 general interest, and none that more complete))
deserves it.
Mr. O'Neil, A.R.A., has, perhaps, never reader
happier effort than in his picture of " The is
Momenta of Raphael," a subject which though I
must be so familiar to all artists yet has so seldom
been attempted. Those who remember Mr. O'Neffr
" Dying Moments of Mozart," painted sous
twenty years ago, will remark with how much is
creased power he has treated this somewhat [Mods
scene ; in all the technical part of the art, and
colouring especially, it is immensely superior,
and in the conception there is much as
poetic feeling. The great painter, pale di
worn with fever, seems to have radii
himself from the couch, by the side of which si
the Cardinal Bibbiona watching him, and his der
friend and pupil Giulio Romano, who presses Is
ar.n affectionately. Ho looks towards the ope
window at the evening sky of that last Good Fridaj
(he was born on Good Friday, 1483, and died a
Good Friday, 1520), and breathes the air feed
with the scent of spring flowers. Marc Antonia
the famous engraver of his works, and Francini
Penni, another pupil, stand at the head of th
bed with a third figure, and the painter's gent
last work of " The Transfiguration " is seen at as
teennntddoaft.he apartment, being uncovered by an at

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Mr. Armitage contributes two pictures, one al
which especially " The Remorse of Judas," will to
found more than to justify the expectations formed
by his works of the last two exhibitions ; it is con.
oeived quite in the high academic style as a cow
position of four life-size half-length figures, Mal
being of course the principal figure, and very
forcibly represented appealing to one of the three
Jews to take back the money he holds in his out-
stretched hand. The agony of remorse and despair
with which Judas is convulsed is finely contrasted
with the stolid contempt in the countenance den
Jew, whom he almost begs to take back the re-
ward of his treachery. The other picture is of lase
pretension, though it will probably give rise to
some discussion as to the appropriateness of repre-
senting the parents of Christ seeking him at
Jerusalem, Joseph having completely turned lie
back towards Mary, who appears to be inquiring of
some people at the well outside the city. There
is, however, much beauty in the figure of Mill
and the group at the well under the shade of the
sycamore, and the gleaners with their thirsty childrea '
In these figures and those of the children playng
with birds in the courtyard, the oxen drawing
home the ripe harvest, and other accessories, 1f-
Armitage displays a more simply picturespe
manner than in his other works.

CABINET COCNCIL. —There will be a cabinet
council to-morrow at Earl Russell's official resideno
Downing-street. It iA appointed for one o'clock.
—Mi. Oliphant, on an early day, will ask the
Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether,
ti
the opinion of her Majesty's government, existing Enrorst
frontiers are threatened by the present complicating
upon the continent ; and, if so, whether he will state le
the house what steps have been taken to secure the mine
tenance of treaties to which Great Britain is a party.
"The taste," nays the Moniteur, "for historical
studies, which is one of the particular characteristics cd
the present age, is beginning to penetrate into the Ent.
The town of Edcemiadzin, near Mount Ararat, in Armenia'
the residence of the patriarch, contains a splendid libratil
composed of 3,000 Armenian MSS., of which the literati
world was hitherto quite ignorant. A catalogue of the cello
Lion has now been printed, and presents a vast field for it
searches into the religious and political history of Central
Asia. It reveals the existence of unknown works by alla
fathers of the church, and of fragments of Diodorna
&Mitts and of Aristotle. The Armenian Patriarch states
in an official preface that those manuscripts which half
been kept secret will be for the future not only open S°
examination, but that extracts may be taken for learned
men in all parts of the world, if they pay the cost a

copying."
THE APRIL SUPPLY OP FAT STOCK TO TO
METROPOLITAN CATTLE MA the bell
April comprised 14,640 head, and out of which 7,037 well
foreign breed ; of sheep and lambs there were 136irt
among which 38,560 consisted of continental imperto 301
tt°6
There were nine market days in the month, and bat
fat calves were exhibited, and Z 33 were Dutch br
ty
eed.
There has been an increase' in the supply of pigg..o4
prisgate number 3,835, and foreign iMporiallos INt4
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