The National Register.
London, England, 1814-02-20 00:00:00

PHF NATIONAL.

fvFR. 20.

tribu:ions in aid 4 literal), es.ablishments, calculated to in
strut! .be igrn,rant, who, on various accounts, would other-
wise lhbour'under the Ovation Of necessary intellivence.
Unwilling to eticroa h further on your valuable paper,
lind the time of your numerous readers, I purpose in my
next (if permi.texl) to resume the subject, -and consider edu-
cation in a political and moral point of view. Your's,
L C.

(Impel-street, Salford, Manchester, Feb 7, 1614.

FINE /IRIS.

BRITISH INIFITUTION.

No. ltro The Dead Nan rceorul ha life ty touelthig the hones al the
Prophyt -'i Kings, dial. 13, verses 1O and It. By .W
ALLSTON. 16 by 12.
The mir.tenlotes tact which this noble performance is intended to
represent, has but cursorily been nu in the set iptures; and
the sacred historian, haviite. not ttiveu 11,4 any particulars about it,
the painter was left at liberty to express tt e whole as be thought
best : his imaginatimealone. lie had to look up to, for composition
and design. And, indeed. there appear, at-first sight, so much of
grandeur and strikne.; importance in the execution, that although we
cannot deny that many objections may be raised against several
parts, yet we are inclined to follow the mild and encouraging prin-
ciples of Horace : non ego lintwis circular macuTis. übi plura nitunt.
Where many points combine to please
A few faults cannot hurt the eyes."
However faithful to our maxim, as stated in our last observations,
we must speak the language of truth, to the artist, became, by the
hopeful specimen he gives of his talents, we are convinced that he
.Ns ill soar, one day, h bright luminary in the high regions of the
Chromatic sphere. Every part, we arc bold to say, is well painted ;
yet there is a monotony in the colouring of the Carnations which,
after a few whittles inspection, cannot fail bringing irksomeness to
the eye—the anatomy of the human body is well attended to, but,
in so great a oomber of naked limbs we remark a tedious similarity—
the ra is a sort of bustle above what is siippoxed to be the sepulefire,
'At we cannot (mess what the people are about, shore the fear Id the
approaching Me'oabite s should nut have allowed them to remain
where they are. In the choice of the scene, the painter was en-
tirely mistaken—the sepulchre is ovally level with the rest of the
ground; there foie of what nse could the ropes he, since the men
might have easily laid down the corpse at their feet. The sacred
bones of the prophet should have been mme prominent ; they are
the original cause of die whole transaction, and their awfal appear.
ance would have pievented the mistake of many who at first, sight
took the subject to be " the raising of Lazarus." Yet we admire
the idea of the painter. in surroundiog Elisha's venerable sloth, with
a lambent flame, a sort of mystic glare, and, in showing the reflected
effret of this phosphoric light under the toes of one of the melt ;:hove.
.Although this machine tastes very strongly of the legendary temula OIL
yet the mind that conceived it, is not of the common vast, anti this
passage, one of the best in the picture, hail it been more explicit,
would have deserved Our utmost praise. This solemn subject seems
to require the style of a' Salvator Rosa ; his foodoess for painting
decayed bones; the minutely and sepulchral tints of his pallet, and
the gloominess which often seemed to have surrounded his e:reat
mind, had made him a tit artist for so giant, a subieet. With him
the dark inter for of the chamber of death would have been the scene of
action, and surprise mixed with horror, would have stared above, at
the aperture of the tomb. We cannot leave so important a sultieet '
without ohs• ruing also the blamable similiarity between the faces
and e:•-pressions of the grave-diggers, the one appearing a mere
looking-glass-far-simile of the other—and the unaccountable situa t ion
•cf the man whose foot hangs over the mouldering skull of the prophet
—to euechole, had we been less pleased with this valuable perfo:an-
mice, our criticism would have not been half so se.tei e--and were
we not persuaded that its many merits will influence the minds of
younger artists, we might have been silent upon those very pat is
which we have pointed out as objectionable.
O. 1419. The revived of an Israelite in the Sepulchre of Eli3h4. By .W.
• N &MATER. V. 7. by '2. Y. •
The g.g; itic perk!. of Charles L was pleased, we are told, to see
The dwart by him. ‘Ve do not think 'that the performance of Mr.
Alston wants any contrast to enhance its reiil value, but we are
iatraid lest its s;:per-erninent blase will out-shine the stung picture
Ler"la our e'y'es—lAvvver it.lnee.its merits, and Ooes :louver to tte
PIMA and baud pii.;:ter.

PST

125

Ii) 'r.

-
re- ••fa .0 Ea.
N o.- 101. A- ritiO -if die sipper Au! of Loch LC/At/id— F.Te;,ing.
HoFFLAN D.
SUrely it was nseless to tell us the hour of the day--for the grey
and softening veil, which evening. with her pitrpli;ll tints, drops
between the human eye and the fainting laue:rape, is exit eteelv
xpressed in this most romAntie representation—the lyle oC
Walter Scott will, and does convey to the mind, sa,ine cll f.t,se fan-
tastic scenes uhids•Nature, in her the nes, has unconscintely dropped.
about the toothed lakes ut Scotland, but the pallet has • here the
advantage upon the lyre—the painter helps its to undevstand rho
pact, and h s orks are adequate substitutes fur an collar enjoy niiitt
of the w onders he represents
No. 134. Crossing the bridge. By jAmr.4 N ETT •
It is imvossible to deny that since the days of I.oullierhourg, few.
very few, if any, painters of meadows evert,' cat lied lite into.the Wl*"
kits of their cattle—,this young artist has animated the w tade.lnved—
his cows think, his goats.rtnninate, inad his ducks are
.alive flu is at,
tittnle, shape, colour, all is true to nature, and, if :tc doe: inft
encournement and pmile to Itrei.d, as they of en tio,.s.'uctuties4 mpou.
his palet, he will be the 13crglunn of our (I:134.

No. 163. Apitllia in Esc 40#rj 4pullus—Ovi,VA Metamorph. By T.
AI. W...'ll.ltNEft, It. A. 6. 10. 9.::.

It is true that Ovid' mt• ntions Apulus, a shepherd, n•ho having
affronted the nymphs of the country named after hint Apulia, now
Puglia, was metamorphosed into a wild olive tree, yet. we find no
where that any one of the insulted demi•goddesses ever went in search
of the uncouth and &riding swain:— but the historical accession of a
landscape is so positively subordinate to the main object, t.!•at it
does not matter whether Apuhis, or Appulus, Venn>, or Mercury are
introduced to set off some 'parts of the scene. Therefore leaving
entirely aside the 'supposed subject of the .perfermanee, let us' con-
kider it seriously as to the corntrosition,the execution, and effect.
As to the first of these three essential points itt7i landscape, we are
at home with Mr. Turner, his acuiu, is warm, and well fraeght with
precious recollections, and his taste is such,, that lie can hardly fail
in selecting his parts, and in coinhit,ing them into an oltgatit and
pleasing whole. lie creates, and gives animation to the creatures of
his pencil.—The nohle landscape, under consideration, rs to the
astonished eye, the freshness offs!' Italian seenery,witicsonie remains
of departed grandeur. The composition is indi•putahlv (if not too
glaringly) of the Claudian style—the many-arched blidgeofthit pro-
tensiou, the middle group of trees, the ill-drawn sheep and moving.
cattle, the isolated bill rising in the back ground, all remind ur of
the father of the Italian landscape, and invite us to tiling Inildly this
perfOrmatice in competition with maw of Gelec's wt rhs—The exe-
cution. we are happy to find, has but little of that sinking ei In-coo!,
which for several years seems to have been the ignite lotaus of this
orthy Academician—he has a distant view of the secret, of that
talisman which old masters caused to be buried with their buttes,
but, though lie begins to come nearer to the point, yet lie has not
found the charin—that all bewiteliiii4 charm that commands -
miration and secures the fleeting blaze of fame—we must say. li-sv•
ever, that this landscape will hold proudly its ',Lee many er
; and that, if Mr. 'forms proceeds in this particrilar
leaving aside the niuddley and smeary mania that has for so many
years poll Wed the innocence of his pallet, he will Iricome floe of the
best larolleape painters. The aberratious of the ekincts da often poor
1111eNpvetel light into the regions of darknels.
N;). 19:1. Scene oil thellamcs at frndsor. Ily W. HAVELL, 3. 9.4. 9,
If thete is any thing like an eye that ran
any thin:4 like a haod that can tix on the canvas what the e: e
5.4.11, sorely Mr. If !I is posses•ed of these to n precipili
jewels—y.o :et him be sparing o! his Therchir'h Est b•-•,.i,:s ,Etta:..
• No. 143. Part of Lowz4gr mountain and It ydca Lod,

_ the same, t 2. 3. t?. 9.
Is entitled to the !tame praise, yet. wi.• do wit advhir hiin to the
often to his I rees'sneh af. ..-tint ; skit.% Are in both of ;hest• p.r.
torn:Awes treated in a gr4nd and free style.

F,s•rata for the last observations on the paintings in ti:c British I.
stitotion.
_ _

Page 93. The pen of an exercise; eye. read, tho
The &wily of composition, read, the tu:://e
'flub is an attar piece, read, thit., as au

THE E.ITE ITO? AT TILE CUSTOM-1701'F.

The followiti.,7 additional parlienlars have been eutmi:il
tv..::4ld to-this lamentable event :--
The tire broke ont 41 a (ratter six- 'e:oek in the nwrnier,
at.r.l i) to J /4•44.ni ti! e titit of QUC uf the

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