The Sun.
London, England, 1832-02-08 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

MARTIN'S FALL OF BABYLON.

We have just seen this splendid engraving,
which is evidently meant as a companion to the
" Fall of Nineveh," by the same artist. In point
of size it is inferior, nor is there (apparently) so
much work in it : in every other respect, how-
ever, it is equal to its far-famed prototype.
There is the same gloomy air of grandeur about
it ; the same elaborate display of architectural
magnificence ; the same sedulous attention to
details ; the same striking and felicitous group-
ing ; and, above all, the same triumphant mastery
over space. In this last respect, Mr. Martin is
unequalled among modern artists. We do not
forget his little gem, entitled " Our Saviour's
Temptation in the Wilderness," where the king-
doms of the earth, with their vast cities, moors,
mountains, lakes, and rivers, were all brought
under the reader's eye as on a map, yet with the
most consummate order and distinctness. In
the present engraving Mr. Martin has pour-
trayed not one particular section, but the whole
range, of the almost interminable city of Ba-
bylon ; more than this, he has furnished us
with the wide sweep of the river Euphrates,
bissecting the city, with thousands of armed war-
riors, cavalry and infantry, with their elephants
and other military paraphernalia, combating on
this side the stream ; while on the other, im-
mense masses of architecture, stretching for miles
along the bank, blacken under a sky, here murky
with thunder-clouds, there lit by fitful streams
of preternatural fire. Between the fore-ground
and the distance, in a sort of neutral position,
stands the' celebrated bridge, and immediately
behind it are long graceful piles of buildings,
backed by those celebrated towers, of which Mr.
Buckingham has made such eloquent mention
in his instructive volumes of travels. The fore-
ground is well filled up by human figures, some
of which are full of vigour and expression. The
attitude of the supplicating Queen, who is look-
ing up, with outstretched arms, to the assassin
with the dagger or short sword in his hand, is
as true to nature and as full of pathos as any •
thing we have seen for years. It has long
been a subject of regret with Mr. Martin's ad-
mirers, among the most steadfast of whom we
are proud to rank ourselves, that he should have
been so invariably in the habit of sacrificing
animate to inanimate objects ; that he should
have made man the mere chance accessary to his
illustrations, instead of giving him a fitting rank
among them. This defect can no longer, with
justice, be attributed to him. His human
figures form prominent portions of the present
work. Mr. Martin has made no attempt to
elude the difficulties of his subject, but boldly
met and overcome them. His female figures
show great powers of close and accurate obser-
vation ; we recognize them at once as na-
tural ; while his men are full of energy, with less
stiffness arid melo-dramatic character than they
exhibit in the " Fall of Nineveh." We recog-
nize few or no incorrectnesses of drawing ; and
if we have a blemish to find, it is that the female
to whom we have before alluded, as in the attitude
of supplication, is dressed in the tight boddice
which belongs to the costume of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. This, however, is a
trifling anachronism that may easily be pardoned.
The celebrated " Hanging Gardens of Babylon"
are judiciously disposed of in shadow, and add
much to the picturesqueness and stately gran-
deur of the scene. We must not omit to notice
in this hasty account the amazing spirit of the
group of assassins surrounding the King. They
are impressive to a degree, and show great dra-
matic tact. On the whole the " Fall of Baby-
lon" is a noble evidence of genius, and worthy
of the artist's best efforts. We should be glad
to see Mr. Martin, whose imagination is of so
splendid and Oriental a cast, employed in illus-
trating those enchanting works of fiction, the
Arabian Nights' Entertainments. He would
find here a subject worthy of him, and to which
he alone, of all our modern artists, is able to do
justice. The enchanted palace of Aladdin
would indeed be a work of enchantment in his
hands, and again bring visibly before us all the
glowing recollections of our school-boy days.

LITERATURE.

R OSC OE' S NOVELISTS.—Vot. VIII.

The present number of this admirable collec-
tion, contains the first part of Fielding's
" Amelia," a work which, though it does not rank
among his best productions, is full of truth, of
nature, of simplicity, and that shy, grave, quiet
humour, in which the author of " Tom Jones"
is unrivalled. We are aware that it is the
fashion with many sound critics to prefer Smol-
lett to Fielding, on the score of the former's
greater versatility of talent and range of character.
Sir W. Scott has sanctioned this opinion by the
weight of his high authority, but even, though
thus recommended, we cannot assent to its pro-
priety. Smollett, it is true, has pourtrayed a
greater variety of character than Fielding,
but then how much of this owes its chief charm
to caricature ? With the exceptions of his im-
mortal Captain Bowling (his most perfect, be-
cause his most natural character), his Lismahago,
and his Tabitha Bramble, there is not -a person-
age, male or female, in Smollett that is not a
great, though amusing, exaggeration. His con•
ceptions are natural, but the effect of them is
perpetually marred by his irresistible love of dis-
play and caricature. We have always thought
Hawser Trunnion an elaborate failure, from the
excessive pains its author has taken to prove
otherwise. Smollett's women are intolerable.
They arc either miracles of insipidity or gro-
tesque exaggeration. With Fielding, on the
contrary, nothing appears laboured, nothing
outre, nothing extravagant. He writes as if on
oath, as if he were bound by a solemn obliga-
tion to speak the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth. In this respect, there-
fore, we cannot but consider him as far superior
to Smollett, as Smollett is superior, with the
single exception of Scott, to every other nove,
list in the language. Smollett, Fielding, and
Scott ! Three mighty names, which in their