The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-03 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

John Gilbert and J, E, Millais, R,A, Elect,
Visitors this season to those apartments in the
National Gallery in which the Royal Academy,
according to custom, hold their annual exhibitions
—should make a point of looking in—either on
going to, or returning from, that greatest of all
the art displays of the year—at tho Messrs.
Agnews' Gallery in Waterloo-place, at the Gallery,
that is, of the Messrs. Thomas Agnew and Sons, of
London and Manchester. They may be always
certain of finding, there, something pre-emieently
well worth looking at. But, just now, we can pro-
mise them—if they will but look in and judge for
themselves—two especial attractions, an examina-
tion of either one of which will far more than merely
compensate them for the trouble of attendance. In
the first place, there is that darling little glory of
another season of the Royal Academy, that
sweet little lassie of Mt. Millais, (then himself
foremost among the Associates, now youngest
among the Academicians)—the little bright-eyed
girl in the scarlet cloak, seated in the old green-
baize pew, listening with her whole face (the
prettiest little chubby child-face imaginable) to her
"First Sermon!'' Now that, to the amusement even
of his grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, the little
lady has dropped asleep at her " Second Sermon,''
according to the companion-picture of her, numbered
13 in this year's catalogue of the Royal Academy,
it is delightful to have the opportunity of looking
back at her, as she was when first revealed to us
at Church, before the soporific influence of
the droning preacher's voice had obtained a
mastery over her senses by the mere force
of repetition. Among the most charming pro-
ductions of Mr. Millais' wonderful brush, this
"First Sermon" is worth studying again and again
—is worth studying in all its details, even to the
very texture of the rusty old green•baize lining of
the pew ! And there—in this very same apart-
ment, at the Messrs. Agnews' Gallery, there is
hung, in sequence, along the walls an exquisite
Series of water-colour drawings—filled to repletion
with beauties that defy any accurate enumeration
of them,
Writing about them now, as we do, of
course, merely from the remembrance. A truly ex-
quisite series of water-colour drawings, this is, from
the wizard pencil and inexhaustible fancy of John
Gilbert ! The series, hero (one admirably well
thought of, by the way), being illustrative,
stanza after stanza, cf that glorious na-
tional ballad, ditty, chorus (what shall we call
it the most aptly ?), that fine old song about
the Fine (.1(1 English Gentleman ! The original of
this grind old homely cnaunt of ours, dates back to
the days of Jamie the Sixth of Scotland, of James
the First of England, and has reference in the
very refrain of it to the gallant gentlemen
attendant in the later years of her reign at
the Court of Queen Elizabeth. The original chorus
running in fact thus—" Like an o.d Courtier
of the Queen, Like the Queen's Old Courtier."
Happily changed long ago to the words as they
are trolled out, now, first by the Singer, afterwards
in fuller volume by the echoing Chorus—" Like a
Fine Old English Gentleman, one of the olden
time." And here he is, in all his various and well-
known aspects, in the midst of all his familiar stir.
roundings and associations—as brought out to view,
incident by incident, thanks to the radiant colour-
ing of Gilbert. From the "old buttery hatch,"
where he is, himself, seeing after the relief of the
poor at his gate, down to the mournful funeral pro-
cession bearing his honoured remains to their last
resting-place:through the old churchyard—the His-
tory of the Fine o,d English Gentleman is rendered
visible to us at last through th© agency of John
Gilbert's genius. The banquetting scene, where
his worship is warming his copper nose with a goodly
tankard of unary, in which liquor he pledges the
comp any assembled at his hospitable board, is full
of picturesque effects of all kinds, among others of
expression, of costume, of architecture. The Christ-
mas revelries in the old hall bring out—to the sound
of the footsteps of the dancers, and to the rapid tones
of the rebeck, and the droning blasts of the sackbut,
and to the mingled harmonies of other ancient im-
plements of ministrelsie—a long processional per-
spective of country dancers as that perspective
has hardly ever been brought out before by
pencil of artist. For the hilarious influence of
the scene here depicted there is only one other
scene we can compare it to—written this one, how-
ever, not painted—to wit Mr. Dickens's inimitable
description of that wonderful Christmas-eve dance
at old Fezziwig's ! Passing over the other pictures in
this brilliant series of John G•lbert's, we are almost
tempted to single oat as our favourite amongst
them all, the Death Bed Scene, where there are
heads hardly unworthy in their way of having
been touched into the semblance of life by
the hand of Vandyck or of Velasquez. While it is
agreeable to note that Mr. Millais' famous picture
about the " First Sermon" is in process of being
engraved, it is matter of regret to us that nothing
seems likely to be done with a view to the popu-
larising of John Gilbert's series of Drawings about
the Fine Old English Gentleman through the mar-
vellous agency of chromo.lithograhy.