The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-20 00:00:00

Queen Victoria and her Subjects,

The Saturday Review, in its latest criticism upon
the Royal Academy Exhibition, takes this occasion
to remark that Sir Edwin Landseer's picture, "Her
Majesty at Osborne in 1866," will always be ex-
ceedingly interesting. The Queen is on horseback,
and has just received despatches. She is in deep
mourning, and the horse and three dogs have had
the good fortune to be provided by nature with
three permanent suits of black, a circumstance which
has earned for them the honour of serving and at-
tending her Majesty on the present occasion. The
human attendant is in Ilighland costume, but even
his kilt and stockings are black, the tartan being
for an inch of it to be
too gay admissible. Two
ladies in half-mourning are seated on a garden-
bench to the left. The effect of this funereal pic-
ture on the public mind is not likely to be favour-
able, and we rather doubt the policy of
exhibiting it. Three or four centuries hence there
will be a great romance and poetry about the me-
mory of Queen Victoria. Her faithful devotion and
long mourning will raise her into an ideal of
widowhood ; and as it is always the excess of a ten-
dency which is sure to be remembered, she may
become the type of conjugal devotion, as Bayard
is the type of chivalry, or Sir Galahad of purity.
When that time shall come this picture will have
an interest which we cannot now realise. The
English people of this generation have become
jealous of the memory of Prince Albert, and nothing
can be more natural or excusable than a feeling of
this kind. The people of England have loved
Queen Victoria with a love such as no sovereign
ever before excited in the heart of a great country,
and they do not like to see that so much lcyalty
has so little power of consolation. If any one will
stand by this picture for a quarter of an hour and
listen to the comments of visitors he will learn how
great an imprudence has been committed in the
exibition of it. If her Majesty, in the retirement
of Osborne, carries her wish to be in mourning so
far as to prefer black horses and black dogs, it is no
business of ours—we respect the privacy of her Ma-
jesty ; but when Sir Edwin Landseer puts the Queen
and her black favourites into what are, during the
season, the most public rooms in England does more
harm to her popularity than he imagines. The
painting shows no technical decline. Sir Edwin
could never paint a horse better than he can now.
This black horse is quite wonderful ; too much
attention is drawn to his beautiful coat, but Sir
Edwin is so dexterous that lie cannot help giving
gloss where gloss exists in nature. The hum as faces
are of course not so good as the animals, but the
subject falls more within Sir Edwin's range of feel-
ing than the " Godiva" of last year, and the picture
is unquestionably a success. Like the clogs and the
horse, the sky is in mourning, and dares not show a
glimpse of blue, the only brilliant colour admitted
being the red despatch-box on the ground, echoed
in the distance by the red coat of one of the royal
servants, who, however, atones for his brilliance by
wearing crape on his arm. Sir Edwin Landseer has
the reputation of being an accomplished courtier,
and we congratulate him on having found means to
imply that not only dumb animals but even the un-
controllable elements themselves sympathise with
the royal feeling.