The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-03 00:00:00

',‘l7

LONDON,

FINE ARTS.
THE' ROYAL ACADEMY.
Nity-ziny; if;itfuileriTtbis par to bring the inaugura.
tien- of a Great Int nstrial Exhibition,- brought at least the.
,ii,p,vmps
_of art which during.,eighty-four ape..
'nessivoiolervlls Lave blo. med upon the Walls of the Royal
..knatijny....__Upen the occuciou_ef our attendance at the
oo:EriOey, we_could not but remark with
ttlecvienliwe'r regret the absence from the catalogue of
tnt
hheeec
einsoassat;rooi nation sifuaariy names of reolarkabt:eleaceolietbhreityieniuDs
03pfrEivtetiy,aiit.
poignant feeling of regret at
13. Peri.
toes ,eretevoilli°6:erddeYaillustrious genius- of Turner—
great traitinist 'O6 greatest both in sea views and land-
sem-stk. Addt,dto the attractions thus denied to. the
collection fin. the present *season by death,
_are others,
theioiant which is, attributable either, to, the
ti,piericeto the. - industry els,,,kbere; of some 'of the
principal 'RoVril Academicians. The President himself,
Ski;Charles Eastlake, _contributes, nothing whatever to
the gallery: and—what will ho yet more serious cause'',
for dissppointpent—not a ringla work appears this year
from the hand of Sir Edwin Landseer. -Again—both
Mr. Dyce, and Mr. Herbert are absent from the list of
thepore distinguished centributors to the Exhibition, in.
6n-sequence, is to be presuMed, of their labours in the
ciccpraiion iifjthe New House's of Parliament. ,Several
artists!'of consummate genius, however, are,stillbappily
conspicuous,arnong,the more industrious members cf the
Royal Academy._
ForeMest both by position and rept:
tatiou $ and4...of cenrse, the name of Daniel Meclise—
piqduatiDii occupying the_ place of honour at: the head
of the principal apartment. Representing its it
does :one of, the most picturesque incidents in
our national history, namely, the appearance as
a mipstrel (122) "of "...Alfred :rthe Saxon in the tent of
Gfuthrum the :Dane,"„ it. prOies, es: might be expected,
eminently attractive in its character. Yet, notwith
stuudjeg its wonderful. elaboratiOn, the work, as a work
of art; must be honestly pronounced at once to be a
failure, and,:not merely a failure, but one actually dis-
Pli!aiing in its :effect. Every thing seems to have been sacri-
.

:tided as it was. for the molt pair, with his former picture
of " Caxterl," far detail—each separate link in the
chaih armour, each bladei of grass on the green award,
•
each petal in the prefusely blossoming hawthorn being
naiantely„ and almost Microsceit,ically defined. The
grouping.',moreOvier, is not stifficiently centralised, while
the:most brilliant dyes of the palate are squandered over
the canvass with a prolusion and gorgeuusness varie-
gatiug its surface from the topmost limits of
the composition to the, very edge of the fore-
ground. :Clarkson Stanfield has shown himself,
by three . contributions to ..the gallery, immea,
surably more -sensible of what is owing to his re,'
,panition. l'"-The Bay
.of Baim" (48), "The Port of La
• Rochelle" (190); and." The Gulf of Salerno" (500), re-
veal as mar,vellously, s ever the capacities which elevated
the, cenePaihter into the meater•artist, enabling him in
tbeanstance,hefore4:to invest with a new poetry the Ely-
sian fields of Virgil, the haunts :of Pliny, and the real-
.
dente of .the, once haughty . and voluptuous Lucullus.
Another great: seen°. painter transformed by Ambition
iutofan artist of the, ` first clase, David Roberts, has
adorned the walls of the Academy With three really ad-
mirable comixsidtions—one a comprehensive view of
"Venice" (34), another a representation of " Antwerp"
(69), and the third t 1 graud architectural interior, truly
wonderfol, buth in porspectire and chiaroscuro
o "the (371) "Cathedral of St, Stephen's" at
Vienna. Really matehless in its blending of
power, iatorest, and execution, the picture for the present
season, from the hand of E M. Ward, surpasses, in some
respects, the Many. exquisite merits of his masterly pro-
duction oflastyear, illustrating, as does the one now
exhibiting- in the National .Gallery, a passage in Lamar-
tine's '° flistoire des Girondins." 'This time; however,
.the giged hand of Ward pourtitsys not the Royal Victims,
'but, the Democrat Leaders of the Revelation. The scene
rip-resented ,iesimPly that. of "Charlotte Corday going
te-Exeautien", (316), but in the scene are revealed the
sinister and
,thereileas Robespierre, the dreamy and
fahatieul Deamouline, together with Denton, the inso-
lent aid brAWny sensualist... The characters with all
their iersontilities of feature, costume, attitude, and ex-
pression, are preserved to a miracle. Robespierre's fa-
vourite bleodhound, the dog Brount, looks almost as
dangerous -a. persohage as his master—gtoWering up
with his bloodshot eyes at the approaching pilgrim to the
deillotine.. The niceness of, thought revealed in regard
to even the most subordinate accessory is exemplified by
the red flush.,reffoaled in the 'smooth metal. buttolis of
o,4o,pierre'e shiest - dandified coat, from the blood-,
onlaiired death-robe of Charlotte Corday. Although
W. P.Frith has four pictures, in the exhibition, one of
them is so Very considerably Superior: to the remaining
three as to command for itself a peculiar and almost ex-
clusive attention—" Pope, making love to Lady Mary
Wortley Motitsgue"(336),-a work almost painful to look
upon, hotwithateadifig the beautiful laughingface of- the
wittiest of s.venaeno7so bitter is' the anguish depicted on
the poor, pale tace.4the peet the face haggard with the
torments of a _life. described by Speece as "one long
disease," and .:whiela must yet have flushed, it may be
even to beauty, under the transfiguring influence of an
exquisite, and, in some respects, incomparable genius—
the getaini:'bf -the , translator of Homer, 'of the bard
of. ,the Messiah, Of the. celebrant -of lleloise, of
the minstrel of the ." Rape of the Lock;" of the satirist
of the " Dandled." Frith has here admirably repre-
tiented the otiose as well as the effect of that cruel and
heartless fit of laughter. Thomas Webster, besides two
minor contributions, gives to the welcome of his many
admirers two works of a merit capable of materially ad-
vancing his reputation. " A Letter from the Colonies"
(153),—representing the interior of a cottage, with the
rustic postman leaniig in over the window-sill, and the
double-chinned g.ff.r conning the supkrecription, while
the gammer is interrupted in counting out the money
for the postage—is charmingly true to nature: but still
more so is the larger picture by the same master, " A
School Playground" (60), worthy of being a companion
painting to his famous " Slide upon the Ice." William
contribotes only one work this. season,
.
btilitacikhertflt Park" (96); F. Goodall only one, The
Last .:Load" (614), very inferior to his really noble
painting of the ~clay pole;" Witham Dyne only one,
and that merely a " Study for a Fresco" (954); C. R.
e"Juliet"clia degree (154)—nine of them
distinguiehed by
only one, thatan of
peculiar
of excellence..
Thomas U wins has two, one of them being (162) a me-
lanch‘ily caricature Jud .s," altogether le mentable
ha is sCripturel subject demanding so much solemnity. of
tieatm contributionsent. Two contributions are likewise visible in the
ooVection frOM theaPolo of Richard_ Redgrave—" The
WOOdland ,Mirroe' •.(22),, being a delicious snatch of
ssilvati scenery, painted With,: consummate ability and
'kill the most delicate perception of the lovelier aspects
of nature in vegetation. P. F. Poole, besides a little
portrait sketch of "The May Queen Preparing for the
Dance" (279), exhibits a charming picture of s+ marina
Singing to her Father Pericles" (411), neither of them,
however, in ~any degree 'comparable to the, previous
works enia6ating from the painter of Soloinon Engle or
of Joh and the Messengers,. Alfred Elmore's a subject
from Pep): Diary" (248), is remarkable for the admirable
mannement_of the lights introdaded threugh the window,
degree
his " Islovice".(3s3), representing a scene in the highest
improbable. Cooper and Croswick have, as
usual,, a variety of brilliant examples of their. respec-
tively; incomparable powere .as landscape painters; Lee
sometimes combining his peculiar skill with that of the
former, with a success indicating bow well their artistic
capacities harmabize. Cope, in his " Marquis of Saline
marries Griselda" (171), indicates much ingenuity in-
both grouping suadeolouring,•.but causes the beholder to
Wiktvel where the' beauty of that face lies whiCh capti-
vated, the Marquis of Saluce, and elicited the impas-
sioned praises of Chaucer. _ j3is " Portrait,of Florence
Cope at Dioner-ticea'!_ (262)i.betrays a hankering, on his
pith, after the manner of• the. Proßaphaelites---who, by
the way, muster in more- than usual force in the
present exhibition, to the infinite satisfaction,
doubtless, Of the eloquent and dogmatical John
Ruskin, J. E. mifb„,„, for 'exempla, bus two:
productions which, in. fieieh, in hardness, and in
astonishing brilliancy of colour, are absolutely marvel"
lous--!the oneof a Catholics Maiden binding the badge
on the arm of her Huguenot 10ver,(478) with a wonder
fol. passion in the fervour of
,the maiden's .lace, and his'
yet More reinarkable work ..this year, depictihg (556)
the drowned. -Ophelia. Other. disciples of the same
co-
etostric school abound, such as Hunt with his redfaced
Stepherd",(s92), and Collinswith his prim little
po treiture Ofahe " Devout Childhood of ;3t. ;L,,
of Hungary ".(1,091), and Lear'S (184)little girl pulling
a blue-bollaand
_having at the same-moment:a, !"‘ Glimpse
of theFairtes." Linnell, has • a sweet-little roadside, or
field-side nook 445), called :" The,S,ear Leaf," and An•
thong, in (107) " Beech Trees. And giyes the best
specimen we have yet witnessed of hisminute represen•
tatiort of foliage. Horsley!s "Master Slender, (226)'
is perfectly delightful- its comic absurdity,
and .. his Madrigal—keep- lour. Timer: (237)
charming `
;in naturalness. Witheringion s
woodland 66ne-s- are, ati,ever; refreshing in their wrdu-
*olt.4 90elbtss, and ,Pickersgill's mythological llitistrea
tions,as-usual, strikingly imitative of W. E. Frost, whose
~t,Netimplvand Cupid' (309), ~but more particularly his
jyt4reing7,(sl4),_ the tlaintiest embellishment to
thatiee.aoriahla.veraes Of Milton, are fraught with all his
cos' ()Mary elegance of conception and -grace of execu-
tion. S.-Lan-cies grand -and gorgeous-fruit piece, en-
., titled..'! The Seneschal"; (227), is unhappily hung too
high for examination. Among the portraits, ,in which
department chant, Knight, and Watson-Gordon are
,icousnicuously, industrious, -are- those of -- the Right
jloneureblo: njamin Disraeli, the Earl of Aber-
ide. 14:7. The Chisholta,; Lord • Gough, and Lady Duff
,Gordon,i whilei amongthe miniatures contributed so
';prominently by the delicate ,hatid .of Ruse, are those
,of Cardinal Wiseman,:._ Viscount Castlereagh, and
_the
I'./iike of Wellington. SOlOpatift'ef humorous :" Scenes
tronS.Le Tartitffe. (1,100),. snould riot be passed ..by
noiiced-any more Abu'? -Jones'arelsborate picture (13) of
The-Battle of Ileanee," or John. Martin's euhlime-
Ipaintt'ng
(I,t lay of .4 The Destruction Sodom . and
Gomorrah For ourselves, what is aruly the most
isery)w,s
.6-litter:for regret in the *help of the Royal Aca..
Cdem, zhtbitiflri
for 1852, is the absence of the name. el
•rranclii.Distity--froin among the l;st ot.
contributors.

We had the satisfaction
jot* the collecotiao-
! OLD- --WATER -
ithe forty eighth
-considerable industry hasir.ann"
iwalls of the sof9o:c,titthi:oolr.eos°fe
nUattßtseenacisßoinn_gYdritisel:pary/ieyTdaiteoOnT7tlwe
xontributors, theareu-y,maar,eely.
of Painters in- Water Colours.—
jave been revealed-as .usual by-the
visiebxlbeiabiiigus; -e
exaAlmthro, tiogOhf
same time; it must ,be corressien3d
any thing like 're
glance—more: part:
provement. Yet, at the
theartitoytt.t." olf,h, teheol3d2h2anpides-
Vuildaernly7d9af n,
course,ything
:tures adorning the gallery, bah,'
retrognissive•:frOM 'merit to mediocrity;
those whose mannerism has served to r
way conspicuous... _9p,ey.
_.e...n ender them in any
a t.,,,,,,merely
1 his. 10101.,5—facile princeps,
An bl :.
ere visible at a
er''Y in inuial - capacity
!Preeident,. but as ineoniparably the -first of ally as
ptlinterS among our water colouriata-.4B.this ear: 581.
naps more than ever prolific. Admirable,
~_ yhowepveerr-
ttogb WOW Of NJ, prouctios wciat svitstu.,,f.lo2