The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-28 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL PH[LOMATHIC SOCIETY.

This society held their usual meeting last night in the Royal
Institution, Colquitt-street, Mr. Richard Lowndet in the
chair. The attendance of members Was ex,:ee:'.ingly numo-

rous.
paper for the evttnig Was by Mr. James Thomas
Poard, and was entlacd " The Pathology of English Art; its
Diseases=-Ctronie, Epidemic, and Hereditary ." The writer
commenced by apologising for, hut at the same time vindicating
the application of the word "pathology " to the subject of his
discourse ; and then proceeded to describe the rise and progress
of art, particularly as developed in Florence, it tte middle

ages. Its rise he dated from about tte year 1250, and fixed
the period of its greatest .de'Velopment as between that time
and 1450. griglii!: art, on the other hand, he declared had
no history. It was but the child of yesterday, and was only
gust freed from the trammels of patronage. In speaking or
its diseases he ridiculed in a forcible, but somewhat " broad,"
manner the mania among young artists for classic illustration,
allegory and historical subjects, and suggested that on such
occasions the greatness of the artists irnagiriatiOn
manifested in the extent of his Canvas. Coining down to the
present time he urged that,the "'epidemic" of English art was
now exhibited in the Pre-Raphaelite school, and in a humorous
condemnatiott 'uf its tendencies " pitched in" to Mr.
Rtskit in a manner which would have much
'delighted Mr. Howard had he been present. Our
space forbids us giving the paper in full, and it would
he impossible to preserve its spirit in a condensation.
Wet therefore, simply give the following extract, not because
it was the best of the paper, but because it is most conVe-
nient in illustration of its charaeter

" English art," he said, "may be just no* supposed to be
peculiarly suffering, and in which We are consequently more
immediately interested,, rirst perhaps in Magnitude and im-
portance—and trot: fraught with evil to the constitution of
English art—may ho considered that virulent and malific
tlisra'le, the cacoethes a scalies classic,—an eruptive disease,
recurrent like the measles or small pox, attacking With fearful
violence almos

every painter in every stage of national
history—its ravages shows of the tnost fearful kind. Few
artists can be said to pass through life without sutf:r-
ing in some v,•zv libm its penalties, or depart with-
out leaving some traces of its enervating :A
iquriblis influence. Comparatively mild in its symptoms
it is known to us at the present day ; the remarks of
the pathologists of the last century must incline us:to believe
that its stage of developement has been altered, and the
energy of its phases checked, and that we suffer from it in
a much milder and less aggravated form than our forefathers.
At certain periods of our history it seems completely for a
time to have altered the character of our art. Its symp-
toms may be generally stated as follows :—Great debility
and lack of vital power ; pulse low and feeble, with tendency
to dyspepsia, or imperfect sight, objects palpable to ordinary
vision becoming distorted, or even invisible to the eye. Tire
patient has a disposition to mistake common, ordinary, or
even vulgar things, for the Creation of a superior world,
and usually entertains a desire to call things base
and mean in themselves, by sounding and euphonious
epithets, with the impression that he thus effects a
change in their nature. It manifests itself variously,
according to age and temperament, and from its first
introduction into England its laws of action have been
considerably modified. It made its first appearance in
this country during the life of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and its
progress was rapid and marked during his early career. If we
trace it in its effects, we shall find a desire in the person
attacked to place before the eve valueless subjects and circum-
stances from classic and profane history, a disposition to recal,
by ❑ame at least, the persons of gods and goddesses, of whom
they have not even the most remote conception, each symptom
of which may be referred to the same cause,—want of an
ordinary capacity of vision. In the last century these
appearances, to drop metaphor, were exhibited chiefly in
the production of huge pictures, in their size exhausting the
resources and ingenuity of canvas-makers, containing huge
sprawling figures, in a species of New Zealand court
costume, naked, save as to helmet and shield, displayed
in every impossible and unnatural attitude. These were
called respectively " Achilles and Hector," the •' Meeting
of Arestes and Pylades," the " Combat of Ajax," and the
" Death of Patroclus." They were supposed to be
vastly interesting to the British public—full of emotion,
eminently suggestive, moral in their tendency, and, front
their valuable influence on the British mind, it may be
presumed, were called high art. Picture after picture
was produced ; no alteration, save in the number of
the figures, their names, and the nature of the helmets
they wore, all ranking indubitably as to grand style.
The only difference ever made, perhaps, was that once
or twice in the memory of man a painter has been known
to select some particular incident from the same classic
source of inspiration, involving action, such an instance
as the " Murder of Egisthius," Arestes frightened by
the furies of the Temple of Apollo. The special nature
of the action, under such circumstances, he wisely let
alone, and compared the difficulties of the story by an
extra sprawl in his pri❑cipal figures. Fortunately, for
the peace of the artistic mind, this aberration was a rare
one, and whe❑ indulged in, usually excited commiseration in
contemporaneous minds. This line of classic illustration was
not, however, confined to high art. The titles of Sir Joshua
Reynolds' portrait-contributions to the first exhibition of the
Royal Academy, in 1769, run as follows :—" Duchess of
Manchester and her Son, as Diana disarming Cupid ;" "Lady
Blake, as Jun) receiving the Cestus from Perus •" " Miss
Morris, as Hope Nursing Love ;" these titles, by the by, ad.
miffing considerable latitude of interpretation, suggest very
illnatured remarks. Then the landscapes—the mere trees and
green fields, and English hedgerows—are called thus. " Ceyx
and Alcyone," " Meleager and Atalanta," " Niobe,"
" Phaeton ;" an excuse for the classic titles being made by the
introduction of two or three naked figures, to fulfil the
requirements of art. Now we might be almost tempted to
exclaim, can such things be? Yet, with slight modifica-
tions, in a somewhat less rampant manner, the disease
exists among us, It is chiefly confined, however, to the
stultification of the goddesses, rather than the gods of the
Greek mythology, as thus—the choice of Paris—Juno attended
by Venus—Venus attended by the Graces—Circe attended by
her sisters—the three Graces— the Muses—Nymphs bathing
—Nymphs reclining—Nymphs surprised—Calypso and her
maids—the Twins, &c. A description of one will serve for
the whole. Three coarse, sonorous, and senseless looking
academy models sit by the sea side, or what is, by courtesy,
recognized as the sea shore. One is dark, one is light, the
third is in shade between the two. One is stout, the other
thin, the third neither thin nor stout. One turns to the right,
one turns to the left, and the third sits sentimentally doing
nothing. The nose of one is slightly retruded, of the other
two, the one decidedly turns up, of the other turns down.
They all attitudinise—are posed, is the phrase I
believe—with the same regardlessness of decorum,
and they are all three in positions in which no
female could naturally. or with probability, sit. Hence,
being like nothing mortal or immortal, the aptitude of their
designation as " sirens"—perhaps to make the delusion more
complete--two star-fish, a periwinkle or two, a little sea-
weed, and shell for the cabinet of a naturalist, are introduced.
But this manifests a rare and unusual forethought. To con-
vert this picture into Venus and her Nymphs, or Calypso, or
Nymphs bathing, would be merely a matter of repletion. But,
if the Choice of Paris were required, the recipe would be as
follows :—Take the same three figures, turn the green sea
into green fields, the seaweed into ditches tire shells into sheep,
the ships of Ulysses in the distance into a tree, add an
adolescent male figure nude, garnish with extra blue sky and
a rocky foreground —serve. Repeat this ad nauseam, and you
have modern English, or 19th century, classic art."
Mr. John M'Laughlin, honorary secretary, i❑ a brief but
complimentary address, in which he congratulated the society
on the change in their rules, in permitting such papers as that
which they had that night the pleasure of listening to, to he
read at their meetings, moved the thanks of tire assembly to the
writer, Mr. Foard.

Mr. W. B. Marshall seconded t).e motion, which was carried
by acclamation.
Mr. Johnson, Mr. N. Samuel, Mr. James Birch, Mr.
Bloxam, and Mr. Buxton, also bore testimony to the interest-
ing character of the paper, and hoped that on a future occasion
they would ha,: an opportunity of discussing the ♦iews
propounded in it.

day, at the boardy
WEST DERBY UNION.
n sr
omeetingom.
present
wereo f this
day' usual week]
The other other guardians
mon wen
ley'
Rev. W. Baduall presided.
Abrahams, nalMessrs. Edwards, Lunt,
Collis, Pitt, Pickup, Aeddel s
The Clerk read the minuet Yes, Mountfield, and Birch.
the last meeting.
The Governor of the workhootifs eported that last week
there were 709 paupers in the workhousee, since which 30
had been admitted and 23 discharged. This week there
were
here were 786. , an g d for the correspoudin .
week of last year
t
The Governor of the hospital reported, that last
there were 114 i
patients in that institution, and this week
s week
there were 108, and for the corresponding week of last
year 94.

Cheques to the amount of £216 were granted for the
out-door relief of the poor within the several districts of
the union.

In connection with the recent repairs of the lodge, Mr.
Thornton's bill was ordered to be paid, but the plasterer's
work was ordered to be measured before that portion of the
account was settled.
In consequence of the withdrawal of the Town Dues Bill,
Mr. Collis said he had to express his congratulations on the
result, as it rendered the motion of which he had given
notice (a petition to the houses of Parliament) unnecessary.
After some routine business the board adjourned.