The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-08 00:00:00

EXHIBITION OF THE BRITISH

INSTITUTION.

From the inviting character of the weather the rooms
of this institution were so thronged on Saturday, that it
was with considerable difficulty we could observe any
single picture from a convenient distance. The glimpses,
however, which we were able occasionally to obtain of
the collection for 1847, were frequently " glimpses of
the beautiful and good." Since the opening of the in-
stitution, in 1806, there can scarcely have been a more
unequal exhibition, an exhibition more unequal in its
evidences of talent. Evidences of " genius" this year
there is not one. Among the various associations which
have been formed for the promotion of the fine arts in the
United Kingdoms, none attracts a more peculiar interest
than the British Institution, in Pall-mall, and none de-
serves more. For the facilities afforded by the
annual exhibition of their productions the artists of
Great Britain generally express their acknowledgment
by the display of their peculiar powers upon canvass.
This season they appear to have concentrated their
energies upon the manifestation of their industry gene-
rally, irrespective of any other quality. That they have
been eminently successful in this particular is ostensible,
first, in the crowded appearance of the walls of the ex-
hibition• rooms, and, secondly, in the fact of four hundred
pictures having been returned from lack of superficial
space. Among the most striking pieces in the collec-
tion, we observed

66. " Morning," by J. Sant, a fanciful illustration of
the old verse.
"It is the lark, the herald of the morn."
The attitude is characterised by much grace, while
the flowing of the drapery is quite the reverse. Another,
170, of " Evening," by the same artist, is however marvel-
lously inferior. The most successful composition from
the easel of Mr. Sant is unquestionably No. 185, " She
hangs upon the cheek of Night."
259. "The Frugal Meal," by J. F. Herring, is
a group of three horses' heads, chumping a bundle of
sorrel and grass, with an impertinent pigeon in the fore-
ground. The picture is rendered very beautiful by the
predominant characteristic of this artist—the most in-
valuable characteristic of all—Nature. The horses are
pencilled with a keen and admirable truth.

366. " The Temptation," by A. Keeson, representing
Christ anti Satan upon the pinnacle of the mountain
If there be little sublimity in the conception, there is a
wonderful hardness in the execution.

554. " The Straw-yard," by W. and H. Barraud.
Worthy to be hung in the same apartment with Her-
ring's " Frugal Meal ;" not so much in the representa-
tion of individuality in the animal, as in the beauty of
the manipulation. The bay horse on the left of the
painting is brilliantly coloured.

386. " A Savannah on Fire by Moonlight," by E. A.
Goodall. It only wanted this subject to come under the
brush of Mr. Turner to afford us a combination of colours
and an exaggeration of effects hitherto unexampled in
the art of painting. The theme, as treated by Mr.
Goodall, is poetical and effective.
Besides the pictures already enumerated we observed
a charming " Musidora," (from Thomson's " Seasons,")
by A. Jerome, 393; an eccentricity called
a " Frost Scene," by C. Branwhite, 451; a wonderful
distortion of nude figures, by E. W. S. Hopley, 461; a
production worthy of being baked into Worcester ware,
by J. D. Wingfield, 493, with sundry exquisite fruit-
pieces, especially one, 516, by H. Reekers.

A stray bust and a casual group of figures near the
staircase constituted the exhibition of sculpture.

KILKENNY AND GREAT SOUTH-
ERN AND WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY.
The adjourned meeting of the shareholders in this com-
pany. which was appointed for Saturday, was again adjourned
sine die, as there was not a sufficient number of proprietors
present to constitute a meeting. The result, according to the
provisions of the 84th clause, is, that the present directors
continue in office for another twelve months.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
EXCHEQUER CHAMBER, Feb. 6.
(Sittings in Error, before Lord Chief Justice WILDE, Mr.
Justice PATTESON, Mr. Justice COLERIDGE, Mr. Justice
MAULS, Mr. Justice WIGIITMAN, Mr. Justice CRESSWELL,
and Mr. Justice WILLIAMS.)
Their Lordships sat for the purpose of hearing Exchequer
causes; no case, however, of interest to the public was de-
cided upon.