The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-19 00:00:00

THE WINTER EXHIBITIONS.

The two galleries in the Haymarket, Mr.
M'Clean's and Mr. Tooth's, are showing more and more
every year bow the picture dealer successfully rivals the
regular exhibitions which the artiste themselves super-
intend. The old days of the patrons of artists have com-
pletely passed away, and the fastidious connoisseur has
given place to the " middleman," who buys anything and
everything in the shape of a picture, provided it has the
trade mark of a good name upon the face of it. This is •
state of things that has both good and bad sides ; no
doubt the artist finds himself, in respect of the sale of his
works, in more easy cucumatances, but we doubt whether
his poweis are always put upon the stretch and whether
he is doing justice to hie own natural gifts. Ile must be
constantly tempted to dash off pictarea and get the money
for them, without bestowing a thought upon meeting the
taste of this or that virtuoso, and often without much
care for his art. Thus we can see a broad road open to
facility of execution, and of course to mannerism, that
Nemesis of all successful painters. It would often
be better if an artist did not paint with the
certainty of ibis ready sale before his eyes: we
fear that much of the want of artistic spirit, and the de-
cadence which now threatens our school more seriously
than ever, are to be attributed to the love of popular Em-
cee., and ties tt,c, which the dealers have made it so
much easier to attain. There would be no difficulty in
naming many painters of position whose works have never
equalled the merit of their earlier time and first success,
and )et they are overwhelmed with commissions. It
would be unfair and ungrateful to blame the dealers for
all this prosperity ; their office is simply to provide pic-
tures for the public ; it is for the artists to preserve their
art and their good name. The examples we meet with
away from the galleries of the Societies of Water-oolour
Painters are, it will be remarked, generally a little lees
refined endless fresh and original, as if there were the
want of the spur of emulation amongst the contributors.
In Mr. M'Clesn's collection there will be found a surpris-
ing number of drawings rather above the average excel-
lence, and most of the best masters are represented.
There are drawings not only of the latest modern style
and method, but some of the old masters of the art—
George Barrett, De \Vint, S. Prout, Copley Fielding,
Turner, and David Cox, and one admirable drawing by E.
Ifeissonnier, which serves to challenge comparison with
our English water-colour painting. This last is a single
figure of cavalier in a red cloak and grey dress, warming
his feet at the large old fireplace—an excellent study,
though it is by no means equal to the 'painter's work
in oil.

Mr. Birket Foster is represented more especially by two
large drawings, neither of which, however, can be said to be
in his happiest vein—though the " Teaching Dolly to walk"
(38)—a group of children, with two of them leading" dolly"
along a pretty country pathway—is very prettily touched.
Mr. Tooth has been more successful in his examples of
this artist, particularly in • large drawing of gleaners
crossing a rustic bridge as they reach their cottage home
on a fine summer evening. We notice, however, in all
these works of Mr. Birket Foster an intense mannerism,
which with all the sweetness is becoming rather sickly.
It is not satisfactory in this case, as in that of another
very popular landscape painter—Mr. Visit Cole—to see
so constant a repetition of the same themes in the same
favourite colours. In Mr. M'Clean's gallery there is •
" View near Haslemere" (6), but it is really a sandpit of
the brightest yellow sand in the brightest sunlight, set off
against a very blue and green landscape. The sole aim of
this picture is to startle with • brilliant effect of colour,
and we must admit that the painter has succeeded in beat-
ing the chromolith artist hollow, if that is any satis-
faction to him. A precisely similar aim has guided
Mr. Cole in the drawing of " Grist for the
Mill" (66 in Mr. Tooth's gallery), in which we see
a broad field of yellow corn spreading away into the blue
valley and under the green oak trees, with the blue sky
above. The whole scheme of colour in such a picture has
been entered upon without remembering that in nature
these tremendous contrasts are never seen, because the
scale is so vast, and the harmonising effect of broad day.
light and atmosphere so diffused, that ally tender, deli-
cate, and harmonious. Those are qualities which we fail
to recognise in these drawings, admirable as they may be
in many points of realistic and technical painting. The
art of Turner, Copley Fielding, and David Cox, which it
is an advantage in these exhibitions to be able to study by
the side of these works of the new school, wholly
despised anything so merely and directly imitative. We
are glad to be able to point to Mr. Dodgson'a drawing (38
in Mr. Tooth's collection), " On the River Wye," a beau-
tiful grey moonlight late evening effect, as a favourable
example of a more intellectual treatment of landsospe.
Mr. Charles Davidson contributes to the same exhibition
two admirable works, 53,a " View near Bletchworth," with
fine wide spreading beeches, rich in their autumn leaves ;
and 15, " Chalk Cliffs on the South Coast "—the latter
not so finished es it might be, perhaps, but full of excel-
lent nature. There is a good example of this artist in Mr.
M'Clean's (112) " The Farmyard," remarkable for the
truth of grey open-air effect. Mr. F. Walker is more
favourably seen in his drawing (88), " Blackberrying "
(Mr. M'Clean's), than usual ; the colouring is agreeable in
the prevalence of the grey tone over the picture ; the
figures are a little too nearly related to the family of the
"Sentimental Rustic," but they are picturesque and
neatly drawn. Mr. Frederick Taylor's " Mussel Gather-
ers" (10) is one of his boldest and richly touched drawings,
and welcome as • variety after his many clever hawking
and hunting pieces. Among other good drawings in these
two exhibitions we should draw attention to Mr. F. W.
Topham's " Landscape near Bettws y Coed," Mr. Richard-
son's " Como," Mr. Leitch's " Kilchuna Castle," Mr. J.
D. Watson's "Musician," a gentleman in old costume
playing on the viol di Casaba ; Mr. Carl Haag's
" Greeting in the Desert " and " Eastern Chief," Mr. E.
Duncan's " Donated," • ship in • gale, and " Smyrna,"
Mr. W. W. Desne's " Bull Ring, Seville," Mr. S. Bead's
" Interior of Cathedral S. Lorenzo, at Genoa," and Miss
Coleman's beautiful Apple Branch and other objects of still
r Lib (1484 rp Mr. M'Clean's exhibition.
There is • good lapse.' .Alit cil by Mr. Bierstadt, the
painter of the large and very remarkabie Irak " A titiOna
in the Rooky Mountain'," at Mr. M'Clean's ; and there is
a small, but choice, collection of oil paintings, forming
part of Mr. Tooth's exhibition, in which there are several
good examples of the foreign schools, and one capital
picture by Adolphe Schreyer, the animal painter, of •
" Csikos"--an Albanian horse dealer, we presume, mounted
on his well-trained Arab, enticing a wild chestnut colt that
stands off and sniffs the air with • suspicion of captivity.
These oil pictures at Mr. Tooth's are particularly well
worth a visit, and, indeed, both the exhibitions are most
creditable to the enterprise of their respective managers.

BUILDING AND RZPAIRING CHURCHZA AND
CHAPIII.B.—The meetings of the Incorporated Society for
Promoting the Enlargement, Building, and Repairing of
Churches and Chapels Were resumed, and the first for the
present session was held yesterday at the wrist's house,
No. 7, Whitehall, 8.W., the Rev. A. &windage in the
chair. There were also present the Revs. W. Reyner,
Omens, and Z. L. Cutts ; Messrs. John Boodle, George
Cowburn, A. J. C. Lawrie, William Riviagton, Edward
Thornton, and the Rev. George Ainslie, ILA., secretary'
Grants of money amounting to 6781. were made in aid of
the following objects :—ding new churches at Green-
field in the parish of Holywell ; fit. Chad, in the parish
of }Ligation, Middlesex ; Lowfield-heath, in the parish
of Ohio wood, near Crawley; rebuilding th e churchesat Farn-
ham Royal. near Slough • Melton Ross, near Uloeby,
Lincoln ; and Llaafihangel•Bryn-Paboau, near Builtle
Brecon ; enlarging or otherwise increasing the acoommodn! 1
Han in the churches at Buckland, near Tring, and Ted- 1
bourne, near Exeter. The grants formerly made towards
building the church at Blackmon' End, in the. ' of
Wethersfield, near Braintree, and towards • the
church at Cantreff, near Brecon ware each inoneeed. The
society likewise accepted the trait of ailment money es repair
funds for the new churches at sparkiwook, near Birming-
ham, and Christchurch.Staincliffe, Dewsbury. It trammede
smatter for regret at this meeting that the &mom had not
been augmented, as it was Impel they would have been,
during the nous, and an earnest hope was wee more ex-
pressed that the forthcoming year of the society's jubilee
would wittier a great increase in its resources, the claims
on &peanut of the ineremed growth of the population
throughout the kingdom becoming every month more
urgent. _ _ .

13017TH KINBINGION MIISIUM.—ViIitOIII (hiring
the week ending Nor. 16, 1867 : On Monday Tuesday,
and Saturday (free), from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m., Ii ,390 ; on
Wednesday Thursday and Friday (admindon 6d.), from
10 a.m. till 4 p.m., ; total, 0118:844..=. of cor-
responding week in forcer years, „ from the
opening at tke mamma, 7,0N,516.

- . .
PAT/ST-0171CM MUNZUM, SOUTH KENSINOTON.-
Number of Tilton foe the week aiding Nov. 113, 1760.
Total onasloor aims the opealog of tb. K.sum fns &Ur
(12Ih May, 1850), 1,300,910.

jPlu%u.