The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-30 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

'RITISH AND FOREIGN REVIEW, No. 17

Taylor, London, 1t:339.
There is an entertaining article in this number,
I
entitled " Works of Art and Artists in England,"
which though penned in places in somewhat too
cavalier a style---as where some of the recent na-
tional purchases of pictures are referred to—yet con-
tains much sound criticism, and exposes the tricks
and ignorance of those mechanics—for many of
them are little better—who profess to clean and re-
store old paintings, in a spirit of just and caustic
severity. On the subject of the great leading schools
of art, the Reviewer, alluding cursorily to the Dutch
and Flemish schools, says, " there are very few
masters whose works produce any effect, except in
broad daylight, and then the greater number, being
merely homely matters of fact, soon cease to please."
This is true. There is a homeliness, a want of ele-
vation and refinement in the productions of the
Flernidi, and more especially, of the Dutch painters,
that very soon begets distatc for them. They make
no appeal to the fancy or the feelings ; they suggest
no pleasurcable ideas to a cultivated mind, for their
humour is coarse, and their subjects treated in the
most unimaginative, matter-of-fact style possible.
They show you nature, not refined and exalted by
the graceful idealisms of art, as we see her in
Claude ; but in all her literal, shivering nakedness.
George the Fourth was a great admirer of these
schools ; and we do not wonder at it, for his instincts
Were gross, notwithstanding his conventional polish.
Of Reinagle, the marine painter, who died a few
years since, the Reviewer speaks in these terms ,:
4,4' George Reinagle gave high promise ; his delineation
of a ship in the regions of perpetual calms, and his ' India-
Irian struck by Lightning' in a lurid atmosphere, where the
winds seem all imprisoned in heavy hut varied clouds, which
"ad forth arrowy lightning on the helpless vessel floating
on the sullen and silent sea, are worthy of the highest
raise, whether the conception only or the feeling and me-
hical dexterity be considered. He lived beloved, and
died lamented in the prime of life. He was accidentally
in
the battle of Navarino, being the guest of Captain Martin,
and
i.was seen in the heat of action looking through a port-
hrle and making memorandums for a picture of the fight I—
~~a curious that co great a maritime nation should never
r,e produced or fostered a master of that line of art. Had
C`-'npley Fieldir g followed the first branch instead of the
pliesBd, the h',atus in some respects might have been sup.
At this moment we have no marine painter approach-
ing rhedie:erity.,,
We are glad to see the Reviewer taking up the
icudgels in favour of old Benjamin West, whom of
ate Years it has been the fashion to denounce as a
ine'ce " mechanical painter." Mr. Hazlitt did his
best to foster and disseminate this opinion, and sue-
;ceding critics have subscribed to it, notwithstand-
'll; its flagrant injustice. We should be glad to see
a 'inodern artist come forward, and give us such a
Pa inting as " Christ Rejected," or even as the
Death
eof Adonis." West was certainly an un-
q ual artist ; his genius had its ebbs and flows
ail d in liis ' latter days he was too fond of covering
Whole acres of canvas—as if mere size alone was a
tent of merit ; but, when at his meridian, he pos-
psed Vigor,
precision, loftiness of design, and pro-
ety of colouring, to a degree not often witnessed
na w-a-days. Of Sir Thomas Lawrence, the Re-
tit !wer says, that he " was a courtier-like and
graceful painter." He was so, but at the same time
Was deficient in the more spiritual and intellec-
tual walk of his art. His female portraits possess
ex quisite grace and elegance, but they want the ex-
pression of mind. They are chiefly physical beau-
;4s, appealing more to sense than to sentiment.
A ith reference to the numerous likenesses of the
Present Queen, we are told, " they are, one and all,
complete failures. Not one gives the fine in-
tellectual modelling of her Majesty's head ; not
°lle even touches the almost intense expression
of inquiry often seen on her countenance ; not
°be conveys an idea of the calm repose which
at times is so marked." How this may be,
we know not. We have seen many portraits of
her Majesty, but we have seen them one day,
only to forget them the next. Of Martin, the
Reviewer speaks in the highest terms. We do
not object to his praises of this artist's " hih
and fertile imagination ;" but " simple sublimity"
is a quality to which he can lay no claims.
True, he is often sublime, but he is never simple,
whether in design or execution. His imaginative
Powers are vast--daring—original ; but, in general,
they are of a sombre eriaracter, and too little varicd
1 their application. But his mastery over space
little
ilartial's- most triumphant characteristic. In his
sketch of the " Temptation in the Wilderness, '
craved for the Annuals a few years ago, he has
brought half the globe visibly before us.
Ile 'Si the " Establishment of a Rural Police," the
viewer furnishes us with divers most amusing
'tracts from the Commissioners' Report on this
411, kiect. He is not unfavourable to the plan, but
observes justly enough, that the great difficulty will
be' to combine the advantages, whatever they were,
of local management with those of a general system,
under the immediate direction of the supreme Exe-
euti'e• We subjoin an amusing anecdote illustra-
-riive of the extraordinary quick-wittedness and saga-
‘ty of a Well-educated London pickpocket:—
w}: .IS_e rrAnember hearing a friend mention an anecdote
dine is ustrative of one passage of the above extract.
h4v7 nifAt as he was walking along Parliament-street,
po
e;_ng Just left the House of Commons, he missed his
,ra_let-)iandkerchief. He observed to a gentleman who
arit:Z?th him that he was glad the thief had not taken his
hinu_, bete also. After walling a little further he put his
too, his his coat pocket again, and found the snuff-box
;goneri 90., The pickpocket had been following them, and
_lietwgerrheard his remark, had resolved to relieve him of
the
I°e !..f4 tof his snuff-box as be had before done of that of
ms handkerchief."
'` Corn Trade with Hungary" is an article
Penned with temper, in a just ant The Reviewer expresses mortification liberal styl d urprie.se
too, if we may judge from the manner and
which, lie
expresses himself—at the result of the late division
on the Corn-laws in a Reformed House of Parlia-
ment. We do not see why he should have been
surprised. Had he considered of what materials
majority of the Commons is composed, he must
have perceived at once that the question of a repeal
of the impost was almost hopeless. But let him
nnnot be disheartened. A sunnier day is drawing
:el. The Corn-laws are doomed ; and no power
uearth can much longer protract their abolition.
t, L atriartine's Poems" is an elaborate criticism on
l tracts his French poet's last epic, " The Angel's Fall."
prom
t the eracts with which the Reviewer fur-
I
lislies us, we think his censures are fully warranted.
'-aarnartine may be a dexterous, smooth versifyer,
°.nt he evidently wants the fire—the via-our—the
bstmplieity of true genius. He passes off his pinch-
,e.elt on us for gold ; and imagines that, because it
glitters, we shall mistake it for the sterling ore.
There is little of genuine poetry in the mind of
", Young. France." It has showy novelists in
4', mindance, and not a few clever song-writers ; but
it wants the faith—the purity—the keen, intuitive
srnpathy with the beautiful—the ready apprehen-
;mil of the pure and sublime in sentiment—that
degenerates
the poet's inspiration, and without which he
``egenerates into a mere rhymester. " The Turkish
treaty" endeavours to show that one of the most che-
rished views of France is to gain possession of Egypt
and Candia, and by so doing, to establish her pre-
Ponderance, as a Power, over Europe. This is a
very Quixotic notion, which, we suspect, has no
existence, save in the Reviewer's credulous imagina-
tion. France has other things to think of, than
reviving the foolish project of Louis the Four-
teenth. She must tranquillize herself, before she
ventures to look abroad. " The Slate of the
Nation" is a carefully reasoned article, whose spirit
is of the right sort. We cordially agree with the
Reviewer in his opinions on the Ballot ; and also
that education is making far more rapid strides
than clergymen and Members of Parliament seem
to be aware of ; and that a vast fermentation exists
lin
the mass, with which it will be dangerous much
'tmger to trifle. " The Russo-Greek Church" is a
passable enough article, that calls for no particular
comment.

ILI . P
Weperceive by the bills of announcement that Mr.
We
(the active Nlanager of the Grecian Saloon,
City
-road) takes his Annual Benefit next Tuesday week.
He deserves well at the hands of the public, and we wish
hitn success.TllE POOR-LAW.—There is a silly
mistake
abroad which it suits the purpose of certain Tory partisans
to foster, to the effect that every able bodied man who is
olt,itiof work must necessarily go the workhouse or starve..o..
thil. is not the fact. On the contrary it was the design of
~t, new law to decrease, and not to aggravate pauperism.
'ne 59 Geo. 111. c. 12, empowers overseers in certain
cases to advance sums of money by way of loan, which„o
confirmed by the 4 and 5 of Will. Iv. C. 76. Iv.
have reason to believe that this power is not sufficiently
exercised by the guardians of this union ; but the existence
of the power entirely disarms the Tories of one of the
sptrrongest of their party weapons, deduced from the misre-
esentation of the Poor.law Bill.—Cheltenham Examiner.
The steam boat communication between Havre
and Antwerp is about to ho discontinued, not having been
attended kith any profit to the Company.
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