The National Register.
London, England, 1808-06-13 00:00:00

EXHIBITION AT AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY.

No. 9. Village School-Mistress.-13. MIRNEI.I..
This is a picture conceived like the works of Mr. Wilkie, on
en humble subject, but certainly conceived in a loftier style. The
arrangement and expression of the various figures which consti-
tute the infantine groupes of this picture, deserve a considerable
praise; but this artist appears to be exceedingly deficient in the
mechanism of his profession. He has taken no pains to imitate the
external appearances of nature i he seems to have attended only
to the expression of feelings. If we are asked whether we pre-
fer this picture, with all its strength of imagination, and all its
weakness of execution, to the picture of Mr. Wilkie, which is
often set up as the standard by which this work of Mr. Burnell
must be judged, we shall have no hesitation in declaring, How-
ever hold the assertion may appear, that we would always ra-
ther see a weak execution accompanying a strong imagination,
than a strong execution employed to hide a weak imagination.
We have been attacked for asserting that the ability of Mr. Wil-
kie is not to be termed strictly genius. We adhere to that as-
sertion. He has some talent in expression, but it is usually a
very humble expression; his principal cleverness seems to lie in
his execution. But is execution, even of the most perfect kind,
to be denominated genius ? Is expression of feelings so humble
as those described by Mr. Wilkie, a kind of expression that de-
serves a title which is given to the most sublime efforts of the
human mind ? Execution in painting is just what versifica-
tion is in poetry; a valuable aid to the works of genius, but
not genius in itself. Mr. Wilkie's style of expression
in painting is what an epigram is in poetry : a quaint,
sharp, hitting idea, which deserves the name of talent, clever-
ness, acute observation, but not genius. Styles of poetry and
painting. which are. mach above this kind of production, for in-
stance, the style of Horace's satires, and the sty le of Hogarth's
pictures, may be humour, may he wit, but even these are not
genius. If any body will prove to us that Mr. Wilkie's style
is a style that operates upon the feelings, or enlarges tke under-
standings of those who view his pictures, we will gladly acknow-
ledge our error, and allow hint the praise of great genius, as
readily as we now allow him the praise of great cleverness.
C. Cardinal Beaufort terrified l' the supposed Apparition of
Gloucester. 11. FusEnt, It. A.
" lie hath no eyes : the dust has blinded them.
" Comb down his hair; look ! look ! it stands upright."
Second Part of King Henry V.l. Act 3, Scene 3.
Mr. Fuseli, in his ardour for obtaining the reputation of ge-
nius has rashed upon an extreme, exactly the opposite of that
which we have mentioned in Mr. Wilkie, and treated the town
ith bombast. This is a

" Vaulting ambition, which o'crleaps itself
" And falls &the other—

Mr. Fuseli seems to have a black and blue imagination: that
tinges every object which enters it. He looks through a dark-
ened glass, and of course sees every colour deeper than it appears
to ordinary eyes. But this eccentricity Is not admirable : it is
merely strange. In viewing this picture a thousand faults rush
upon the mind. We will pass over the unnatural outlines of the
figures in general, and mention but one defect : which is the
right eye of Cardinal Beaufort. " Ile has no eyes," says the
Cardinal, speaking of the supposed apparition:, and really one
would think, from looking at Mr. Fuseli's picture, that the
Cardinal meant to supply that deficiency in the ghost, by the
loan of one of his own visual orbs : for his Reverence's right
eye which by the bye is nothing but a round ball of dirty white,
like the eye in a boiled cod, is actually come from the inside of
the head, and seems rather to hang on the eyelid than to glare
from the socket. Mr. Fuseli never spoke more truly than when
he `lid: " If you want things as they were, go to Northcote :
.11 you want things as they are, go to Opie : if you want
things as they never were and never will be, come to me."
49. Trap-ball: Portrait of a Young Gentleman. 11. THOM-.
SON, R. A.
This picture is placed in an unfavourable situation of the
room : but its merits will bring it very forward upon the. minds
of critical obiervera. • For natural attitude and lively expres-