The National Register.
London, England, 1809-04-30 00:00:00

.blvj! .111 TS.

TRU EXHIBITION AT SOMERSET-HOUSE

Was opened on Friday, for the gratitle.tion of such
fr!ends of the artists, as could procure tickets of admission,
previous to the (looms being opened for the public, which
will tike place to-morrow. •
the administration of the country affects to discourage
political enquiries, they certainly have done nothing
hitherto by which the progress of literature, or the fine
arts can be said to have L,en impeded ; on the contrary,
we think that as far as the national taste can be said to
extend, patronage has not been wanting; we might, there-
fore. have tliir!y expected that the result of this patronage,
so far as pai:Oing at least is concerned, would have been
discoVeraLle by the superiority of the productions of this
Vicar, ever tlium.! of the last. In our opinion, however,
this is rot. the case ; the superiority of the pictures of this
'year wee that of the piecetUng, is at best doubtful. We
h)o% in 'Vain f:r the works of West, Museli, &c. A tame
mediocrity best chaiacterises. the Exhibition of this year.
We arc iguorant of the motives which have induced
Lawrence and others to withhold their productions : is
it that they ere onwillieg to mingle with the crowd;
or have they reasons of a personal nature to justify
their SCUSSitII! ? Portraits, and fancy pictures, seem to
bn more lirevaiit than historical pieces, or indeed any of
thosc;compositions which below, to the higher orders of
the art That portraits should abound may be easily ae•
con:!ted for; there are many circumstances that concur
to multiply them. Mediocrity eagerly treads a path which
pr;NentS obstacles less formidable, which prepares. some
grains CiSe!f love, and procures an existence with a less
arduous C riion of labour Or .of talent. indeed, Artists
-of superir merit are often obliged to inspire silence upon
their own tote of fame—genius and glory are sometimes
in,the utore urgent flaims of nature and meet-
Sity;tind these hours are devoted to the claims of their fa-
Which Are reluctantly stolen for their renown.
•Itut. the same reasoning which accounts for the multipli-
cation.of portraits, does not seem to satisfy us why histori-
cal pirces.should not be produced as often as fancy pic-
tures. The superiority attributed to them on account of
the greater portion of time, labour, talent, and expence.
necessary to their production, is merely a prejudice which
has been repeated till it is believed. The powers required
to produce a good historical painting, are necessary in an
equal degree to the production of a good fancy. picture.
The only essential difference is that force of character
which is necessary to the former artist, and which seems to
be the line of denunciation between them.

If you look for expressions of love, tenderness, and de.
licacy, you must look for it in the productions of an artist
who has been addicted to study from taste, and .nature.
Scenes of nature, and passion, the delicious spectacles. of
domestic life, are to be found only in the works of an
artist capable of relishing these feelings. The landscapes
of D-.--r-- L are the effect of that enthusiasm
with which a beautiful scite has inspired him. The
smiles, and even those tears of pleasure, which are
shed over innocent childhood on the bosom of a wife,
that look of filial piety which marks the furrowed
cheek of a venerable parent, those deep retreat, those
solitary ruins, which beguile the pensive melancholy
of disappointed affection ; all these arise out of correspond-
ing emotions in the bosom of those artists who are alive to
the most virtuous feelinms of our nature.—We must content
ourselves for the present with these general obsorvations,and
propose at a future opportunity to apply them more parti.
cularly to the pictures in the present exhibition. For al.
though upon the whole we are disappointed, yet we shall
have great pleasure in pointing out the beauties (as well
as the defects) of such as are euttQed to particular atten-
tion.