The Sun.
London, England, 1824-11-15 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

tributeTHE
i.ATE I!R.tlllle'EsSlTro.fessional and
The
personal character of the late President of the
Royal Academy, ‘‘as paid by Sir THOMAS (JAW.-
NANCE, in his address to the Students on the last
distribution of the Annual Prizes :
" The elevated philosophy of Sir Joshua Reynolds, in
those golden precepts which are now acknowledged as canons
of universal taste, and Cud illustrious society of which he was
the centet, combined with his genius to give a dazzling splen-
dour to his name, which seemed to leave him without com-
petitor,—yet the powers and knowledge of 31r. West deserved
not the contrast in their present fortunes.
" At an era when historical painting was at the lowest ebb—
(with 'the few exceptions which the claims of the beautiful and
the eminent permitted to the pencil of Sir Joshua)-51r. West,
sustained by the beneficent patronage of his late Majesty, pro-
ducod a series of Compositions from Sacred and Profane ma.
tory, profoundly studied, and executed with the most facile
power, which not only were superior to any former productions
of English art, but, far surpassing contemporary merit on the
Continent, were unequalled at any period below the Schools of
the Carracci. The picture of the Return qf Regulus In Car-
thage, preserved with gracious attention in the palace of Buck.
inghatn.house, and of the Shipwreck if St. Paul, in the chapel
of the Royal Hospital of Greenwich, are examples that may
securely be adduced in testimony of the fact.
" Towards the close of an honoured and laborious life, and
when his advanced age might reasonably have deterred hint from
exertion, he produced a large and interesting work (Christ heal-
In„ the Sick, purchased by the British Institution)—which
meeting with liberal reward, so forcibly excited the admiration
of the public, as even by its attraction to add new means of
Fatronage to the prompt benevolence that secured it. This
was succeeded by others, of still inure arduous subjects, of
greater ntagnitude, and, if possible, more powerfully impres-
sive. The display- of such astonishing abilities in age—(for
he was employed on them in his eightieth year)—combined
with the sacred importance of his subjects, gave him celebrity at
the close of his life far greater than any he had ever before en-
joyed,
and he became—(almost to forgetfulness of deceased
greatness)—the one popular painter of his country. Yet what
slight circumstances may retard the effect usually produced by
death on the fame of the eminent and good ! It is now more
than three years that we have witnessed, at his own residence,
an Exhibition of the accumulated labours of this venerable and
great Artist, whose remains were honoured with a public fune-
ral, and whose loss was felt as a national calamity, totally neg-
lected and deserted ;—the spacious rooms in which they are ar-
ranged, erected in just respect to a parent's memory and due
attention to the imagined expectation of the public, as de-
stitute Of' spectators as the vacant helix of some assembly—
' and, but for the possession of other property of known value,
threatening to injure the remaining fortunes of the filial
love that raised them. But though unnoticed by the public, the
Gallery of Mr. West remains, Gentlemen, for you,and exists for
your instruction ; while the extent of knowleclgethathe possessed,
and was so liberal to convey,—the usual weight of his opinions
in societies of the highest rank,—the gentle humanity of his
nature, and that parental fondness with which youth anti its
young aspiring% were instructed and cherished by him,—win
render his memory sacred to his friends, and endeared to the
School!' of this Academy, while respect for worth anti gratitude
for invaluable service are encouraged in them !
" For myself, indebted to his friendship for no inconsider-
able portion of that service, I can truly say, that I never esti-
mated the comprehensive ability of that great Artist so highly,
as when comparing his labours in my memory with many of the
most celebrated compositions, then before me, of the revivers
of modern art : and, were the revered friend now living to
whom my letters were addressed, his report would be evidence
of that impression.
" I hope it is not possible that the nation should long con-
tinue its neglect, and seem to prove by this indifference that
the general enthusiasm so recently excited by those fine pro-
ductions, and the respect then shewn to their venerable author,
were but the impulse and.fashion of an hour, dependent on the
mere convenience of place and distance, instead of the rational
tribute of the judgment, and the feeling protection of an en-
lightened and just people."

Mr. Secretary CANNING is expected in town
from Icworth on Friday next.