The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-18 00:00:00

r of Waterloo," painted for the Diike.of Wellington at the
cost of 1,2004, by far the largest sum that he had then
received. These ware followed in 1823 by his Parish
Beadle,' in 1824 by his " Smuge;lers offering run good,
for sale or concealment," and his s-.3elie from "The Gentle
Shepherd," called in the catalogue " The Cottage Toilet,'
and in 1825 by " The Highland Family.",
To all liners or art, and all the f:equenters of the
great London Exhibition, the years 1826, 1827, and
1828 were sadly wanting in pictures, for there was
nothing there from Wilkie's hand. These were the
years of his memorable Visit to Rome. and Madrid,
that wrought,such changes in his style, and ia the.selec-
Con of his subjects. Italy had been a, beaten ground for
painter4*Of all gra:deo of merit, and Wilkie thought it ad-
visable to take to a . hew field, mid find in Spanish sub-
jects a Picturesque-novelty that would attract and com-
mand attention. Nor was he wrong,--:-he returned laden"
with sketches, .and several pictures all but complete -;
among the latter were " The Spanish Posada," "Th e
ataid of Saragossa," " The Guerilla's DeNrture,"( and
" The . Guerilla's Return ;" the four pictures that
George IV. made his on the unpacking of the painter's
foreign labours.
On the death of Sir Thomas Law..fencc, in 1830,
Wilkie, then busy with his portrait of George IV. in
his Highland dress, and his Royal patron's reception
at Holyrood, was appointed to succeed Sir Thomas in
the office of principal painter in ordinary to his Ma-
ji sty. There was something of Spain in all that he now
did, and his portraits (for he took to portraiture on his
return,) had a dash of his favourite Velasquei about
them all. Among the best of his portraits we would in-
stance his " Lady Lyndhurst " (at the Duke of Welling-
ton's,) for its colour and treatment, not for its likeness,
and the " Duke of -Sussex" as Earl of Inverness (exhi-
bited in 18:33), for its general breadth, and as a portrait
which-Vandyke would have admired.

With all his passion for portrait-painting, or rather,
perhaps, its profits, which he now manifested, he did
not neglect the higher • branch of his art, and his
" John Knox preaching" was of a more elevated class
of pictures than he had -before attempted. The Knox
was exhibited in 1832, and purchased by Sir Robert
Peel for 1,5001. To carry on, hoWever. the stream,
of his works, he exhibited, in 1833, his Spanish
Monks," a scene witnessed in a Capuchin convent at
Toledo ' • in 1834 his " Not at Home," and his " Spa-
nish Mother and tahild ;" in 1835 his " Columbus,"
(now at Mr. Holford's, in-the Regent's-park—the price
1,100 gainers)' ; in 1836 (the year in which he was ,
knighted) his " Peep-o'-day -boy's Cabin ;" in 1837 his
" Mary Queen of Scota escaping from Lochleven Castle,"
" The Cotter's Saturday Night," and " The Empress
Josephine' "and the Fortune-teller ;" in 1838 " Queen
Victoria's First' Connell ; in 1839 ." • Sir David - Baird
finding the Body of Tippoo Said and "'Grace before •
Meat ;" is 1840 "`Benvenuto Qelliel and the:Pope," and - 4
"the Irish Whisky Still ;" and in 1841 two portraits. tge
last that he has lived to send. The Baird was a com-
misthoh from the hero's widow, to the amount of 1,5001.
Among his unfinished works was "NelsOn sealing a Let-
ter," and " John Knox administering the Sacrament."
Stich are a few. of the works of this eminent pain-
ter, which require enumeration rather than descrip-
tion, for the gravers of our best artists have been
employed to widen the world's intimacy with them.
Sir David was but fifty-six when he died., There was
time for many a fine picture before he had attained the
scriptural threescore and ten. " Hogg met him in 1816,"
says Mr. Lockart, " with a graceful greeting. He 'eyed
the great painter for a moment in silence, and then,
stretching at his hand, said, "' Thank God for it ;
did not know that you were so young a. man !' " Hogg
felt as. we all have *felt, but did not live to participate an
our regrets.
Into all his earlier pictures Wilkie introduced cha-
racters such as his native land readily supplied. No
strolling fiddler. wandering tinker, or mendicant hag-
piper passed him." it is said, while :he was but a boy,
without's 'record in in the sure sketch-book of his me-
mory. Ire took sittings, too, of the husbandman
and matrons of the land, and illustrated with them-the
social manners of
~Scotland. So wisely had he studied,
and so happily had. he singled out scenes iti•sympathy
with his own pawera end the popular feeling, that his
two first pictures may be said to have established his
fame. These Were followed by a succession of pictures
in the same spirit, in which not only all and more than
the fine grouping, and life, and social character, of the
best Dutch Fainters appeared, but a purity and moral
purpose unknown to that schonl.
When at the height of It fame, he visited Spain:
and Italy, and his genius received fresh impulse and
a new direction from the great • painters of • those.
countries. We have heard hint speak with delight
which brightened in his eyes of tile wonders wrought.
by Velasquez,. by Tintoretto, and by From
this time forward 'his reach was highe.- and his subjects
of a nobler order. His ascent was ezacinal and regular.
a
' His • Waterloo Gazette' was the earliest intimatiate
which we had of his rise : his Knox' wet: a step int,
the historic, but his Maid of Saragossa.' his `Josephine,'
and his Columbhs,' was a stride, and ;s long one. Yet
critics were not wasting who regarded each fine proof of
the variety of genius as a descent from his first style •
and his homelier pictures ; that he had deviated hke
Turner from the right path which he was once as far
advanced in ; and that he had plumed himself for ;lights
for which lie had not the reach or strength of Tsang.
This however is certain, that he could never have attai.led
a fame fer that style of painting greater than his fitftet
pictures had procured him.
There is a reason for everything in Wilkie's-pictures
he ha 'a no accessory without its propriety. In dramatic•
skill in telling a story he- is only equalled by Hogs:tin' -
while in the brightness of expression and variety of Tate
i. prolnetioaa he approaches and sometimes walks side-ler
eidehvith Burns. In mingled humour and seriousness..
in'open mirth end that tendernesawhich inclines to tears..
they resembled each other, and equally eo in that moral
feeling "which lends such lustre to both poetry and paint-
- ing. His fine taMe came as much from natuee as from
study.: them was thought irepaessed on all hi.-t eetapotti-
tams, and the sentiment of the eceaewateVehupoermost.
He had thy 4:hlest sense of proprietyalY, mnderre
painter, ausihin insight into human •intattre Which he has
stamped on ell he touched. The Arts hart not suffered
• such a loss since the death of Sir Joshua.
IN't-aone ever worked harder for thine than Wilkie.
taery large picture that he-painted hart its; fifty sultsi-
'diary'sketithes and- studies for light and shade, for heads
and for hands, end all of masterly ton-eh-and finish. He
had clay figares for every picture, to shift for light. or
composition's sake. He had acquired all the secrets of
his art, but with all the liberality of genius made nu
secret of What he knew. An instance of, his liberality
in teaching others to arrive at his own excellencies be-
fore recorded in this paper deserves transcription, here.
" A 'young man, now a' painter of eminence, when the
fit of art fell .uponahnn, came ttabondon; resolved -to
commence painter at QI)Ce.. He had a letter' of in-
trodinFtien to a mentber• of the loyal Academy—a
distinguished one. He Was received' with politeness,
and was emboldened to request some information
concerning' flied mode of Making up a palette anti
employing colours. Young man,' aaid this person
there are mysteries in my art—these tare of them,
which are not to be told, and must be discovered by
long study—l wish you a good morning ?' Thus re-
pulsed," said our informant, " I resolved to be more wary
with, Wilkie, to whom I ;lied a late" tilair a-Sitavr. Firm
was reeeMal kindly, and as :on as possible I began to
hunt for the 'informatisar I wanted as ingeniously as I
could. ' Wilkie turned sharply round, and said, Oh,
you want to know how to prepare your palette, and
commence on canvas ? Had.- you said so at first it
would have saved going roma the bush—come with me.'
He- took me into his painting room, and would not let
me go away, till he saw that I had mastered the difficulty
to a certain extent. As we parted lie said, smiling-,
'Conte back, if I 'can' help yon further—come back at
any rate.' "—Athencrant.

EADVLItTIsEmENT.]
To THE LADIES.--The influence of the sun
un the -skin and Complexion at the present season, is fre-
quently subversive of comfort to persons of delicate
skin, I.;‘,- producing sun-burns, freckles, tanned skin, and
parched lips and swollen. To oppose these innovations,
the most infallible specific is Rowland's Kalydor, a pre-
paration from the most delightful exotics, which not
only by its use insures the skin from the effects of sum-
mer's scorching heat, but never, fails of restoring the
skin to its pristine delicacy and whiteness. It is _inva-
luable as a. rpriovating and refreshing wash during tra-
velling, or, ekposure to sun and dust ; and, from its ex-
traordinary efficacy in allaying all incidental inflamma-
tion, deserves a place among. the household treasures o
evi=ry family.
Deaf persons, and those who are
slightly dull
..f hearing, and find a difficulty to catch the round of a
itdistant low'
~
advantage
speaker at a public assembly, will find a roost asten'sr.evoy.
invented
from the use of the Messrs. S. and B. Solomoiis:
invisible operative Voice Conductor, which, when '
fitted into the
cavity of the ear is so small, not the bast percePle the bearing be.
comfortable th an having a piece of wool in i s Place,
nor more un-
traordinary and rateable invention, not onlyrev
come acute, but the ears are so much
imPed their use, that
es
anvas, can hoer most dis-
tudividuals, in a great number of iiiebe seen that persons do
final), without them. It
pt. By this ex.
will therefore be
at all times to
Make ate of them,
not incur any constant habit
„nsegotfivin);e mg; the numerous individuals
haring been altogether relieved front deafness,
Solornons. newly Invented Spectacle
are placed before very aged and imperfect
general use. The Moors. they have become in
.
Lenses immediately they
eyesight, eithei by day or candlelight, every object becomes clear and
distinct, :aid the most minute particle is seen with exact distiact.
ness. Their valua
bleimprovements in the material are secrets to
themselves, and are eclely confined to their establishments, sg,
Albemarle-street, Picc 3,
aau;opposite the York Hotel, an 76,
king William-street, City.
FINE ARTS.—We have been favoured with 'a
private view of a picture, executed in a new style of painting,
which, at this ag, of thirst for novelty and excitement, i%
calculated, we think, to produce some sensation. The subject
is the Destruction* the Disobedient Prophet. The painting
exhibits a high proficiency is the great elements of the art,
but it displays certain novel accessories of an e7;traordinary
character. It unites the realities of sculpture with the
ehiarn osertro of the pictorial art. The exhibition is called
Ira lorama ; but, if we had to define this new style of aft, we
should call it nelievo Painting; the objects in the foreground
and middle distance being brought forward to the eye. The
effect, especially as regards water and forest scenery, which is
in some degree dioramic, is exceedingly agreeab!c and strik-
ing. It possesses that charm of reality which, to be fully un-
derstood; must be seen, and cannot be adequately de acribed.
There are some smaller pictures in the same style in this exhi-
bition, which occupies the rooms of the Water. colour Exhibi-
tion, in Old Bond-street. It is moreover rendered_ more
attractive by a dioramic painting of Rosin] Chapel by moon-
light ; a grand historical painting, of colossal size, after the
best school of French art ; and a variety of selectsems by the
old meters.

The officers who served in the 7th Hussars held
their anuiver'ary dinner in commemoration of their services at
Waterloo, at the Clarendon Hotel, on Wednesday. Among those
present we observed Sir Hussey Vivian, G. C.B. ; Sir Edward
Kerrison, G.C.B. ; Earl of Hopetoun ; Earl of Belfast,
G. C. H. ; Lord Poltimore ; Sir William de Tyull, C.B. ;
Baron de lloebeck ; Colonels Lowther, Vernon, Hall, and
Dtindas;, Majors Wildman, ~Shirley, and .VivirK • ;Captains
Seymour, Inge, Lumley, Pettat, Norbury, Lyster,. s*.