The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-05 00:00:00

MOCK COMPETITIONS.

The public willhe glad to hoar that Mr. Allan Cun-
ningham is ,about, immediately, to prepare for the press
a Memoir of Sir DaVid Wilkie, from original documents
supplied by the family, including the letters and papers
of the artist, and the journals kept, it is said with great
regularity, during his travels in Spain, Italy, and the
East. A project is also afloat for raising, by subscription,
a monument to the deceased. artist. We shall much re-
joice if this intention be carried into execution—we should
like to see monuments erected in this way to llo-
garth, Reynolds, and others, who have shed a lustre
on Britain and British art, and we shall be quite
content to begin with offering homage to the me-
mory of Wilkie. But let there be no jobbing in the
matter, and we sound this note of warning because we
have already observed certain old familiar indications
which awaken suspicion. Whatever is done, let it be
done in a worthy spirit, and in honour of the dead—not
with reference to the living interests and profits. Let us
have a promise at starting that the work shall be open to
competition—competition after exhibition of the designs,
and by competent persons, to be selected by the compe-
titors—then we shall all put our shoulders to the wheel,
and struggle zealously in the good cause. But there •
must be some such preliminary conditions ; for artists
and the public are weary even of competition without
security for even-handed justice. What a disgraceful
piece of jobbery is laid bare in the following letter, re-
lating to the proposed competition for a new church in
Hyde Park Gardens :-
1 "The prooeedings of the Committee, by whom the.pre •
liminary business was conducted, in regard to the nume-
rous designs sent in for their approval, were first made
know to me in January, 1840, when I was informed that
out of the whole number they had selected five to be
submitted to the vestry for approval ; but of these they
recommended two only as deserving attention, and that,
at a Vestry convened for the purpose, a report accord-
ingly was made and received. One of these designs,
thus recommended. was mine ; it was Gothic, and was de-
signated by a blue star,—the other Grecian, the work
of Mr. Lindsay, marked " Let merit bear the palm."
The estimate for mine was 12,000/., for Mr. Lindsay's
8,450/., which latter estimate being, upon subsequent
extunination, found inadequate by at least one-half the
amount, the design was abandoned ; .and recourse being
again had to the five remaining designs sent. to the
Vestry, mine received the unanimous recommendation
of the Committee ; but as it was considered by the Corn.
mittee that a Grecian as well as a Gothic design should
be submitted, another of the five being Grecian, and the
work of Mr. Gutch, was sent with mine to a special
• vestry, again held to receive the second report of the
Committee. And it is to the. extraordinary proceed-
' ings of this Vestry I beg more particularly to call your
attention,
" Mr. Gutch was a competitor from the first, his (a
Grecian design,) was among the five placed before the
former Vestry, and was one of the three of that five not
recommended for execution by the Committee. But it
would appear that this latter Vestry had resolved to exe-
cute this gentleman's design at any rate, for on this occa-
sion, he being present, his design was re-produced, hav-
ing been altered from Grecian to Gothic, and in various
other ways changed, to suit the views and opinions which
the other and approved design had elicited during the
deliberation of the Committee. Of these alterations, or
of the intention to snake them, the Committee were alike
unconscious.

" One difficulty still remained—the estimate of cost—
which, by the terms of the original advertisement,
was required to accompany each of the designs, was de-
clared to be insufficient to meet the expense of the alter-
fions which had enabled. Mr. Gutch to get his design
adopted. But these gentlemen, in defiance (it is sub-
mitted) of fairness and consistency, wore determined to
support their fellow vestryman, Mr. Gutch, and adopt
his design, notwithstanding their having invited competi-
tion. They at once, therefore, permitted him to raise his
estimate from 8,6001. to 9,600/., to carry his new plan
into execution,
In this manner ended the labours of the Committee ap-
pointed to " advertise for, and receive and examine plans
for the erection of a new church at Paddington." The
Vestry rejected the design which, after long and careful
scrutiny, the Committee had selected, and they adopted,
without previous examination on. the part of any Com-
mittee, a design produced for the first time by an influen-
tial member of their own body, that member being pre-
sent, to aid them in their decision in hiS own favour, in
total disregard of those principles of fair and open pro-
fessional rivalry by which all competitions should be
guided. "Yours, &c.,
—Athenaeum. "LEWIS VULLIAMY."

Forty Abyssinians are coming to France to
study tile arts and sciences ; there are among them seve-
ral persons of distinction.