The Express.
London, England, 1857-05-05 00:00:00

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FINE ARTS.

MUSIC.

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It a seldom that we hue hued a better or a mom success-
ful concert than this. It ma All of verity ; but it was
ettiety of encelime. Ivory plae wr a shef towers of it.
composer; sod the pa rears wen matjudiciouely chosen
to give every Moe its prom abet. Moserts Symphony in
D M maid only to as imam melmice caled, to
mark he ps-imbakes, He Jupilsr." TM two
wake are meth akin. TM allegro monmente of suit
have a simithr samdfon sad brighter; the onekothe
cd both an. aped th Oak leanifal few et melody and sweat
combhatica. ; bat it i in its girth the museum tome on
lbw Meath the the amity mats its morkeity te
the other oraistral wallas at it. author. Of Destlioven'a
sysspluay b C tabor, whet cm be sad me that it is the
work of a Oath, and the language inks ender any Masa
to eirmelerie or describe it t Both these glorious works
made seen mans than their usual impreenion. Mai per
won mid may member at the orehears
May seem to do bin best, and to 'bow his Mention to
every bolicatios of the excellent conductor. TIM was, if
penile, rum ma apparent in the performance of Men-
deleseho's waged, pace of insakal description, tin " bk. of
FiopL" Often.' we bum heard this ~Me, it .best
appeared new to as. ma band mossil actually lambed,
and piped with a mu and tram* villa cenamakahri
bud se the anima The overture combeda smid Duda+
of mimes and load cells for ite repetition; end it was
mufti acendimiy.
• mat inarreedm amity vas the mirinsoce d Erna.
Comma Pat/skims, by W. Itheinyi. This artist is a yeas(
Themprion-4 raises, ws bars—who km been moral
yeas la lagand, and bade the Mistime of principal Milo
in thus Queen's private lend. But ha has be.. sq Mae
head in public, and this appeerence was ohm* a &Met It
won an eminently sucomstal one. Entat's camas 1. ger
belly that great musician's lima work. It it well smog
"pathetic," for it is toll of the almost and most psesionsee
emetics. It is mend lit its denim large in Its ecastree-
tics, and exquisitely broad in its sesiodies, while ft as-
thma alma every illealty which the graded violinists
lave lam ebb w aeldsm. The roam rammer Nara
thoroughly the its eploi, and played amakently, dth
paying powers, both of esomptien and exuseetion, akin to
those a the amps's& If• me received as lie Ins qualities
doomed ; and se one was water mole edema is elms-
aims of pinwale than Brest Mr elf, who listemd to the per-
hemp et kis ewe oak with the dowel stamtion and in-
that. Rotten produced a post ant by his concertino on
the centrahamo ; a perinemous eel lees bountiful then sur-
prang. Of all the ask pribratme at this mat &Seek
issament that have um hem honed in thin comary &Me-
-1 alai is the breseoth
We ha two salve mallets, Madame Badereeoho and
Xis Loath ; and both at theta mainathei the homer a
the Paella easel, Xiss Lamar Ism Cambin . lise
mud ems boosithay. She has a emirate voice of the
I dart malty, and her Myth is perfectly pore and retina.
,li,, indsmoside Balm opus" wen eang with groat
mesemss, dalimay, and hang. The introduction of Boo-
danakets two-part soap asoompsied only by the
110, yr a samiagly happy ides. They were admirably
sag by the two led., and their stiot, ecetrasted with that
et the Ouse oreirstrel was delighttel to the ear.
Coolesels et this kind, we thia, might be introdead with
admatep musk ahem than they are.

The epees at her Majesty's Meats?, this evening,
Y Litaiseei; at the Royal Italian Opera, lotwals Poyidt.

DRAMA.
ADBLPHI.
A fudge: interlude, addled illerN Tragedy
in as &PM Did; wie_yealesei thee bed alght, with lir.
Wright rthe berw Tile =earthman • mired
bothenera, Mr. Tthethy As, awing the
otheace el Ith Wel SIM WNW. IMO es theism at •
dither sit the " Mid Tatham" mobs ast waft
with the eisealma uleL re* law etheldd ewes,
mid ellen theellealea diodes lthed hie thy Oath SWF
kolflllllkaassbasy by the mardat desk= =nevi
the Ithswet, thd the lissarathrl. /111 e
watith rather Ws, awl Ist bollowirs
Arks le by bad melees preendag hos the
ede, abases b alliebel rasher " sold ap:‘,
the 14. Mogglethe lthilpteweey (Mr. Peal
who his dee beta melt the wrath othoderap
of the perigee algid. pothole Mathes
rottry OVId••••• off their hies=deil WU, • Mel*
Walla WO lON lade
hags of oath odd a
lady's fed. The Ws slide eyed* muss the
lre dee who boodeas all rem loath mhos
his thedithgthethed emus he that be letmadmi f se •
premed helm daother dthleady Nom le the ohms ol
• bussed =dela which bed esempaled the caekma
at the mid,lmpre, but the his. hit emerthere la the
course d hie srlne. The sake&
with red the cede se-
that
• MOW Impertthoe whim the web shad
•aswmese spypvt sus d " thereil twig fa the ass
Ma," Swarthy the therideg wasder the leer wear who
thgt • cod tad pews dad, sad the preiroble Mrawffry it
the serderore by seem of la sari demlbed es ow
madras thee width bee beim lid by the therem The pok of " mold dingenr Is Amer of
their reediseea, ere peorad by this eiremtheeld "d-
-ame dot they suet lath his. the rerethe tithe swam
thyld ; ark heath theresed by the menace of
the leader tahrelle, who lade elgrideratly thee be
W wetted thaw halm de* sight's raddega. The de-
tine le dee alai al the sewed guilty Nem sew la he get
rid of the eeliamme /Ora then ; thd dry let bah is die
emboli Width la • sere is.. is Viriele Is • pr of
reweeth idol then ash theillstee the withing
rsiad the efts. Earn weft sear efts% hew-
nor, th embethe lthoght him ids Elglibury Beau ;
T
sad It le e theessed Wit the reogrigh of As " Pada
z:Z' hoe leia mil fres • Nowe eh/sr, rid. The
loads, big Medd eratmr, lodise, dear
zheestheZ Is
'. by dean ths be hal thilered the mid
their sight proms, Nei hid libiretal them
from • Wes by ew for sundry demos, Witham the
Atha:dm et dee- hemries cop ad isle. It all bra

thatilts is • more owersisisasz.voiyiss wady is dr
slam! Isiah W y cosslossilve
poww, Maar ..sp.tor ea lewd mai, lomow Is
wash W lowswiwa whoa ito
=ppm asi is wwwwissims• h• noway,aim boss caw
of .ails, and as wow lama bin awl Pawl &OW
Wks wit Y hotholy wain now with as
saw, apt Intriaiy osoi• mbar lownw, of
teal hissai maw wl suit bead is is wahlwa=lissoi sod aswhetso, ail wpm lo be •
SW= le
MlWlelrall°bl.l/168bIralb
s
Ilia =lillidiall="chask" Iwinser,bille ail
maw; IRS Maio la spat of lul posei-rool w
mot be, fa wail. ti • otamass iwwwwwwit las veal sot
Wish Wray st WWW• trwfra easpicity a the
.Irestfri rlerif fa Ws Dias.

Drury lons Theatre is shortly to be opened for
the patentonew et " The EIS Annie= Equenytut
Twain," oho whole ononanommee valve We Ermonon of
Mks EEC, " tae Yoneyama bay eqamadma."
"New Monthly Whets,* giving sada= to Mr.
aymysenem betas. ot the Ownyy Mamie EmE, at fey
minim we asw host co sae it the estuary gam Ow the
aim of Waren

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 5, 1857.

EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
SECOND NOTICE.
In resuming our notice of the Royal Academy
Exhibition, we shall begin with the more im-
portant pictures important inasmuch as they
are certain to attract the immediate general at-
tention, not only on account of superior merit,
which is sometimes doubtful, but from the artists'
past achievements, and the position, favourable or
unfavourable, already made with the public. It will
be our pleasing duty afterwards to speak of those
young and rising artists whose works are so unusually
pinnate' this year, and in the greatness of their pro-
mise give, as we have before said, so hopeful a cha-
racter to the present exhibition.
The principal bone of contention that has been
thrown down for the public generally, and the fine art
critics in particular, to light over is, undoubtedly, Mr.
Millais' large picture, " A Dream of the Past : Sir
Isumbru at the Ford." It represents the knight upon
" Grayed Destrere," the original mammoth hone,
creasing the ford with the two children, the one
seated -before and the other clinging behind hip.
The horse is wading through the water with all for
heavy enjoyment a hippopotamus, to which un-
wieldy animal, both in appearance and habits, he
evidently bears a close resemblance. The features
of Sir Isumbras wear an agreeable smirk, but those
of the children exhibit a leas self-satistied expression
—their evident desire being to get their journey
over as quickly as possible. This work belongs
rather to the pre-Albert Darer than the pre-
sehool, being full of a quaint affectation,
and faulty drawing. In invention it is
Poe 4•11110, and, es a composition, beneath
maiden. la power of execution Mr. Millais is
peribly without a rival; but surely this is
no td
that is required to make a picture. That
an resent
i study of nature and a careful rendering
Mime bemstiai n all their exquisite detail are in-
=lnlito those artists who would take high
n their profession, none will deny ; bat that
we have a correct reFceentation of nature is ma a
gradaction as this of Mr. Millais', it would be folly
is meet. We do not accuse him of a want ot geri
emstrary, it is the abuse of great genius
whisk me emephin. We freely admit a singehr
weer M seisar, a marvellous skill in rendering
Ma minutest detail ; but these alone will sot smile
ter Mr. Millais that high position as a Cca=
area Wahl& ha enlist) ugh
sea ow et is skid iris. po Ik/my hats
Jumedemr shoal paw wet se alaisoloy boort-
awle ibis divine mend= M she liwksrli
mills be rendered with a swerriass Meaty
Mee texture of ths garlands bs wore, and de-
Mad almost every -hair of the ass he node 11
Mr. Millais is a very Protest of art. You never
know where to have him, and his disciples must have
no easy task to pursue the erratic nights of their
master. Let as look at this canvas again. The Sere
of Sir Isumbras is grotesque in the extreme. The
children are well painted, the boy especially is
admirable, both in drawing and expression; there is
the usual tendency to exaggeration in the girl's
staring eyes, and her attitude is unnatural and
awkward. With Mr. Millais and his school, grape
of form and beauty of feature appear to be the last
requisites of art; and this, not from any lack of
power to depict them, but from choice alone. Still
with all its halt• there is much in the picture which
we cannot bet admire. The executive power is
marvellous, never was armour better painted,
or coheir more skilfull used, and the water
in the distance especially is u near perfec-
tion as possible; set is a work with
merits, and also greater blemishes, than possibilryesat:
other in the room. "The Escape of a Heretic, ISA"
has fewer defects, if not an equal merit. The woman's
face, with its feverish, strained, eager expression—
drinking in hope of safety from the tierce joy
that burns in the eyes of her lover—cannot be too
highly ridged. The man's face is less fortu-
nate. The expression is not good, the action of the
lips exaggerated and unpleasant. There is an awk-
wardness la Ss whole attitude, as though the stiffest
• by-drmis wan beneath the clothes. The bound
e=leseilt Is not well draws. and so badly
l ilk ft Jambi's the pet ; but the
small= worldly is period. Mr. Millais' mode
er is his ism give them too often
dr anissasss of labssrkunisr a cutaneous
disnaar Ind Ms trekked if irk in the other
pOI fiblbasimmt b a Womb M siseeenfol art.
. Ela
Der—shwa in Bras Mar," is
k air Mask jssim k ,wank effective style
dish is saw Ise wall bows to require critical
assmost. lissom Is Ise as a composi-
tion; the saiwbess asellailisattitude and perfect in
drawing. Thme ha little msamlain-hare in thccorner,
so Malin kat yes waidismossly be surprised if it
diasprossiaseismy mons Os was and left its
plea vassal es es asks. • ass* sod Beady"—
represents a horse in a straw-yard Wks/emu with
an air of grave inquiry
,upon an egg ibeibas jut been
laidby a kea who u Joyfully praskining the fact.
The had of the horse, with its-ssuliperplexed look,
and the noisy conceit of the Sung mother, are
alike admirable ; but the eolowiecisdidl and un-
satisfactory, especially that of thelsedinand with
its cloud—if cloud it be—r Wing bolallbaborse like a
Bracken spectre, and dest Toy* fter se meible motive
the effect of the whole. " Mark Tan and his Wife for
Sale "—full of humour. emillaßir Edwin's best man-
ner. The two pug-dogs ebelher are really
touching in their wee I Mews of Uncle Tom,
down whose black =I WO dIE ken are trickling,
and the Niagara of sorrow that is evidently preparing
beneath those close-abut eyes, is well contrasted with
the loving look of his despairing wife. Above them
bangs a heavy-thonged whip, a sight terrible to
both, as the suspended sword to Damocles, and we
devoutly hope that the purchaser of the two un-
happy loggers will not include that in the lot he
takes away.
Mr. Acedell's visit to Spain has already produced
good fruit. "Mules Drinking," " The Water-Car-
ner," and "Ploughings" are the titles of the three
works he exhibits. The animals are, as might be
expected, all well drawn; but he has also caught
the aspect of the country he has visited, and the
countenances of the peasants, &e., introduced are
full of character; one especially, "The Water-Car-
rier," which is exquisite in its shrewd expression.
We congratulate Mr. Ansdcll and the public on the
benefits likely to accrue to both from this his
Spanish pilgrimage.
Mention of Spain naturally brings us to John
Philips, whose two pictures are among the best in the
Exhibition. "The Prison Window, Seville, 1857," is
good in composition and tine in colour, firmly painted,
rich in tons, and the figures well drawn ; the atti-
tude of the woman lifting the child to the man, who
is kissing it through the bars of the window, is
natural sad easy, the back-ground is well conceived,
there is no effort, and the result therefore is natural
grace. The second picture, " Charity, Sevilla, 18.57,"
is full of character. The sleek aspect of the priest
and the appealing expression of the woman are ex-
cellent. The colouring here,ce in all the other works by
the same artist,is good; the ccetumesaremost careful
in their detail, and the miss en scene admirably
truthful. This floe work will not fail to increase
Mr. Philips's already great reputation.
Mr. Stanfield has four pictures, all painted with
his usual ability. In " Fort Same, St. Jean de Luz,"
the rush and dash of water is rendered with much
energy and spirit. "Calais Fishermen taking in
tiilets—Squall coming on," "Calm in the Gulf
of Salerno"---are both exquisite in their way; but in
Pert-na-Spania, near the Oiant'a Causeway, coast
of Ireland," Mr. Stanfield is thoroughly at home. A
wild sky and still wilder sea, threatening rooks and
drifting wrecks, mountains of water, each crested by
an avalanche of foam, great gray clouds that hang
about the sinking ships, whose forms are men dimly
through the mist, writhing beneath the fury of the
gale, are the principal elements in this striking ram-

position. The story of the picture is this : two stray
ships belooging. to the great Spanish Armada are
going to pieces in the bay, thence called the Port-
na-lipenia," being driven by stress of weather upon
the rock-bound coast. The whole scene is full of
terror; life 'draggling in the very jaws of death,
the fragments of wreck tossed about hither and
thither in the rough play of the wave—the great ships
sinking slowly down amid the tumult, while above
them tower those grim warders of the shore, the
rocks of the Giant's Causeway. It is a noble work,
end in every way worthy of one of our greatest living
artists.

Mr. Cooke's sea pieces, of which he has several,
are all, without exception, good. " A Crab and
Lobster Shore" is a wonderful piece of nature.
The atmospheric effects produced by this well-known
artist, the magical blending of water and sky, are
quite uneqed by any who attempt the like
subjects.
" A Field Conventicle," by Poole, is certainly
not what it pretends to be—a hill-side gathering in
Scotland. The red glow which suffuses the entire
canvas belongs rather to the south than the
north, and though some of the figures are well
drawn, others are carelessly' sketched, with
bide feeling or character. Each year Mr.
Poole amp to grew wee careless in his
attention tolletail. Last year, if we remember
rightly, in his picture of the " Conspirators " he dis-
arded it altogether, presenting us with alarge canvas,
in the centre of which appeared three figures sur-
rounded by a muddy chaos without either form or
meaning. The figures introduced in his present
flosnisia are better fitted for the gardens of Florence
than the bleak hill-side, and, in their gentle duke
far 1614/141 expression, we seek in vain for the look
so "grandly stern" of the Scottish covenanter.
The colouring of this piece is alter the manner of
Mr. Poole—in other words, is not at all after the

manner of Nature.
Mr. Frith's two little pictures, "Sate Nickleby"
and the "Flower Girl," are both charmingly painted,
the latter being beautiful in tone and full ef
character.
Of Mr. Feed's, " The First Break in the
Family," we cannot speak too highly ; in com-
position and drawing it is nearly print,
nothing forced nor affected, the whole stary
simply, and therefore well, told: the disectaim
late family grouped about the " auld cottage door,"
and watching with tearful eyes the coach u it
fades " far over the moor" and bears the " young
Willie awe," is moat beautifully rendered in its un-
affected pathos. The kneeling mother, her eyes
crowded with tears, and her whole attitude full of
grief; the compressed mouth and set face of the
father, who seek', but vainly, to hide the sorrow
that he feels ; the sturdy boy, a few steps in ad-
vance, who, standing in Napoleonic attitude, pre-
sents his back only to us, but even in that we read
his brotherly distress; the old grandmother and
the dejected sweetheart; even down to the dogs and
the hesandohickens,areall in excellent kcepingwith
the purpose of the picture, which is full of character
and feeling. The rainbow of promise," which
streams down over the cottage, is skilfully treated.
On the whole this carefully executed work is one of
the best that has yet emanated from the pencil of
this artist of true genius.
A. E. Chalon's " Sophia Western" is as little like
that most loveable of heroines as can well be con-
ceived; there is no trace in the dark-haired
young lady before us of either grace or
softness, and the unpleasant looking Cupid that
is crawling from her muff is as bad in execution as
puerile in ides. The scene from the " Tempest,"
"the isle is fall of noises," has • raw unfinished
look; the figura are net floating in the air: there
is nothing aerial about them. The flesh is too pink,
the colouring crude, and the drawing as bad as can
well be. The attempt is ambitious ; but in this case
the ambition has o'erleaped itself and fallen upon
the other side with a vengeance.
Mr. Frost sends his usual number of un-
clothed and half-clothed nymphs, painted after
a tuition that never vanes : we have seen
the same faces, the same figures, and the same
peculiarity of flesh painting in Mr. Frost's pic-
tures for very many years past, but never out of
them. We wonder how this clever artist can pass,
as he must do, so many thousand times the pictures
of William Etty, and not gain something from the
lesson they convey. It is possible Mr. Frost con-
siders himself " too old to learn ;" for his own sake
we hope.it is not so. Ile has one capital little
sketch in the present Exhibition, "Coaxing," in
which the gathered storm upon the brow of the hue-
band is disappearing before the sunshine of the
wife.
Mr. Redgrave's "Cradle of the River" is de-
serving of the highest praise. The water is really
water, beautiful in its liquid transparency. The
delicious repose of the whole is wonderful, the light
and shade well disposed, and you foci your heart pant
for the soft couch of grass and the cool shade of trees.
As a landscape this composition may be pronounced
perfect. "TheMoorlandChilerbalsocarefulljpainted,
the girl and sheep being vi ell introduced and iiirably
"framed" by the landscape. "The Harvest Field
and " The well-known Footstep," are both good ; the
latter scarcely so perfect as the others in composition
or in the drawing of the figures ; still the light and
shade, and, if we may use the term, "greenery," are
rendered with the touch of a master. ,qtr. itedgrave
is, in spite of a few rather glaring faults, one of the
first landscape painters we prem.
" Sir Roger de Coverlcy in Church" is far from ap-
proaching the expectation we had formed when first
told that Mr. Leslie was preparing such a picture. Of
all our artists, his namewould naturally have occurred
to us as the one to whom " Sir Roger" should have
been entrusted. We looked upon Mr. Leslie as a
congenial spirit with the great humourists of the
reign of Queen Anne—as a man who would have
been a welcome guest at the coffee-houses, whom
Addison would have welcomed with a smile and a
nod, and whom Dick Steele would have slapped on
the shoulder, whose " charming pencil" would have
been mentioned in the " Spectator," and gained a
double immortality in the verse of Pope. That all
this would have been the case we are sure ; Mr.
Leslie's works—would that their name was legion—
have already proved it ; but that the present one is
a failure in conception, and also in execution, we are
famed to confess. This Sir Roger!—certainly not; nor
are these the "happy tenantry" who throve and fat-
tened upon his estate. The entire picture is scattered;
it wants colour, and is destitute of feeling for the sub-
ject—a thing greatly to be wondered at in Mr. Les-
lie. All is flat and cold ; the sleeping boy is hideous
and unnatural ; the congregation are dummies, with
the usual mechanical movement of eyes and mouth ;
yet there is one thing that goes far to redeem the
picture—a baby—a wonderful baby ! Not a flabby,
dabby bobby—such as Hood described—but a good
substantial baby, that, seated in its mother's lap,
pus fearlessly around, independent in its glorious
innocence of even the great Sir Roger himself.
Of Mr.Creserick'e landscapes it is almost useless to
speak ; all have a " delightful sameness ;" but when
you have seen some half-a-dozen you have seen them
all—for, though an indefatigable student of nature,
our, artist's riipertoire is not large—his unchanged
batats are the country road, the woodland nook,
the bobbling spring, still pool, or winding river.
But they are all exquisite en their way, these
landscapes; And, as few, if any, can paint them so
well, we can bear the repetition. "A Salmon Leap"
is admirable; so is " An Autumn Morning," with its
marriage of brook and river. The water in
this picture is something marvellous. "Parted
Streams" is in the artists old style, but perfec-
tion in its way.
Mr. Abraham Cooper exhibits the usual number
of horses, while Sydney Cooper gives us some well-
painted landscapes.
From Mr. Witherington we have several beautiful
English scenes, capital bath in trentawnt and colour,
the foliage always good, the figures well introduced
and cleverly painted.

ROYAL COLOSSEUM, OPEN DAILY.
limbs. hem IS ile 6: Wombs. ids IL
.11ttsimies. Or Wilma.
MONT BLANC IS OPEN TO-NIGHT.
perENERAL TOM THUMB.—In consequence of
6 wee Md. Ida PIIIIFOIII POW N IM NUNCIO of
git tnatlsom va= lair:r atoll THCIAtt
In MI WI Two =morn grill ear. L. blttimit 1 NO. god
WI I to ll.Velledt.
KAHN'S MUSEUM, 4, Coventry-street,
1810118regosna PLOGRAII4.-1.1101011.81 by Dv.
1211. d.W. at nine ceelnk OS lostnostils
terlos ;NW eir Dr. BNIPOII. F. 1.0.11.. . :15=—At lolf•
re—TIN rammer. Curksills. NA lis Ilmo al
• at Ilsor—Tin Onatliksiso ; ism,
Awl we Illa : Ift UM% 1.1
TN limm comb. WIN gild =II Is Vit.
&61114•Lts.""lt. =a:a Dr..ths. Mal
Mb le arm.

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY.
The second Philharmonic canoed was given kat
night. The follow* was the letcregems