The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-09 00:00:00

THE BRITISH INSTITUTION.

(PRIVATE VIEW.)
, A saunter round the th ree rooms of this popular
gallery on Saturday aftern non, upon the occasion of
the Private View of the 7 L 73 works now publicly
L exhibited upon the walls c)1 the Institution, afforded
us, in several instances, r aore than ordinary satis-
' faction. This particular ex:hibition, among all others
of annual recurrence in. the metropolis, has long
possessed for ourselves a peculiar fascination. It
is calculated directly ye ar by year to realise the
original design with whi*.ch the British Institution
itself was established—tl iat, namely, of promoting
the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom. Here, an-
nually, during the very lolooni of the London sea-
son, are grouped together some of the choicest
"works of ancient masters and deceased British
artists," selected for temporary exhibition toge-
ther from various scattered private collections.
The Exhibition for 1855.%, as already observed, num-
bersl 73 pictures,and the se pictures have been brought
together for this one occasion from no less than 71
different collections. At the head of this long list
of 71 contributors appears the name of her most
gracious Majesty the Queen. And, as if the key-
note to the harmony of the whole had been struck
by the hand of the Sovereign—that particular
painting supplied by the liberality of her Majesty
from the Royal collection (No. 97), the noble portrait
group of the "Duke and Duchess of Cumberland
and Lady Elizabeth Luttrel," by Gainsborough—
marks the one great distinguishing peculiarity of
this really, so far, most remarkable exhibition. It
is an exhibition, then, let us say it at once, which,
while it possesses many notable attractions, as con-
taining several remarkable specimens of the ancient
masters and deceased British artists—possesses,
above all, this one paramount attraction, that it is,
perhaps, the noblest accumulation ever yet brought
together and exhibited to the public, of the works
of one of the most rarely and variously gifted of all
our great English painters—Thomas Oainsborough.
The exhibition this year in the British Institution,
while it illustrates in some degree many of the
great schools of art—comprising even among these
remarkable works of art. an oil painting by Michael
Angelo Buonarotti, the famous Madonna dell' Im-
panata of Raphael Sanzio d'Urbino, specimens of
Bellini and Perugino, of thcCaracci and Domenichino,
an exquisite Rubens, two works from .the hands of
Titian, three by Sebastiano del Piombo, three also
by Vandyke (two of them superb specimens of that
great master), four paintings by Salvator Rosa and
five by Tintoretto—demonstrates above all the glory
of the diversified gifts and brilliant genius of
Thomas Gainsborough. Out of the aggregate of
173 pictures hung upon the walls of this gallery,
as many as forty two are from the pencil of Gains-
borough. They comprise, these forty-two Gains-
boroughs, portraits of all sizes and of all characters,
renowned and anonymous, kit-cat, full-length; and
three-quarters, almost life-size and almost minia-
ture. They number among them, moreover, one
delicious sea view, and a variety of exquisite land-
scapes. Yonder, well remembered (No. 172) is the
" Girl Feeding Pigs"—yonder (No. 93) " The Cot-
tage Door," renowned through many a popular
engraving. Tfor3 (in No. 83) is the full-length
portraiture by this great master of Mr. and
Mrs. lialiett—youthful, comely, bloomin,,, both
of them as they passed out into the sun-
shine from the church porch upon their marriage
morning, and as • they will saunter down
to after times radiant and beautiful with the Im-
mortal youth imparted to them by the Kosicrucian
brush of Gainsborough—noble specimens of their
race, a true English lady and a true English gen-
tleman ! Here, in (No. 114), is Gainsborough's
Portrait of himself—here, in (No. 132), a. sort of a
semi-comical, semi-quizzical garden portrait group
of himself and Mrs. Gainsborough. And it is in-
teresting to compare these two limniogs of his own
features by his own hand with (No. 166) Zoffany's
admirable and life-like " Portrait of Gainsborough."
Gainsborough ! The whole gallery is his glorifica-
tion. That one name is the chief and prominent
attraction this season to the Exhibition in the
British Institution. There, in 125), we note
Gainsborough's " Study of a co.'Horse"—there, in
(No. 129), his sketch of "Dogs." Here, in (No. 133)
are his " Rustics on a Tourney"—here, in (No. 131)
his " Seashore with Figures"--wind and spray
commingling. His green lanes sprinkled with
Wayfarers—his green meadows dotted with kine—
his "Peasant Boy" (No. 157)—his "Cottage Chil-
dren" (No. 146)—his exquisite portraits and his no
less exquisite landscapes, met us on Saturday at
every turn. One by one we paused before them
and drank in their varied beauty, grateful for the
feast thus presented to us in 1859 in the gallery of
the British Institution. Conspicuous among the
more celebrated portraits from the hand of Gains-
borough. here for once brought together, are (No.
163) "Georgina, first Countess Spencer," a decided
pre-Bloomerite—(No. 149) " Georgiana, Duchess of
Devonshire," the Duchess of Devonshire, the Beau-
tiful Duchess of Devonshire, whose mouth of fasci-

lation, loveliness, and wit so tantalised the skill of

the great portrait-painter, that after painting it
again and again, he smeared his brush across it for

the twentieth time, still baffled and unsatisfied—
(No. 154) "Miss Gainsborongh"—(No. 173) ditto
—(No. 135) " Mrs. Gainsborough"—(No. 152)
"Miss Linley, afterwards Mrs, Sheridan, and her
brother," two charming countenances, the latter
arch and clipidon, the former pensive and piquant,
the very face to drive the young wit to the despe-
ration of that duel at Bath through which he won
his beautiful young wife, and caught up in his
imagination the seed-germ of one of the most bril-
liant comedies in the language.
If we pause thus musingly, however, over the
masterpieces of Gainsborough, we shall leave our-
selves neither room nor time for reference, however
casual to many of the other miscellaneous and some
of them most notable attractions in this Exhibition.
Neither the Michael Angelo nor the Raphael
satisfies us. The former (No. 15) is the " Virgin
and Child, with St. John, &c."—an unfinished oil
painting, and theretiore a great curiosity, from the
hand of Buonarotti a work belonging to
the Right Hon. H. Labouchere. The Raphael
(No. 16) is the Madonna already referred to,
the effect of which is incongruously humorous.
Of the two Titians in the gallery, one (No. 21) is
called a " Portrait of Raphael"—though• it bears
but slight- resemblance to the half angelic, half
voluptuous, wholly beautiful countenance of the
world's greatest painter. Of the three Piombos in
the collection, one (No. 10), a very small but very
precious work of art, contains side by side
with the head of Guilio Romano, that wonderful,
admirable, life-like, and truly noble head of Michael
Angelo Buonarotti. Looking at this head, we can
only marvel how it has come to:pass that it is almost
always represented in engravings what it is
unquestionably not here, namely, ugly and gro-
tesque. As represented here by the truthful brush
of Piombo, the whole visage wears an aspect most
noble and commanding. Of the four Salvator
Rosas here the most singular and whimsical is that
indecent and spiteful allegory of "La Fortuna,"
for the painting of which in a moment of pique it
is not very surprising to know that he was expelled
from the Eternal City. There is in (No. 27) a
" Crucifixion," by Pietro Perugino—and in (No. 87)
another " Crucifixion," by Albert Durer. Now we
loiter before (No. 26) a pathetic " Ecce Homo," by
Tintoretto--now before (No. 89) the lovely "Magda-
lene" of Etty. A noble Etty, one of the noblest in
flesh tints and anatomy he has left to attest his
great manipulative skill as a painter, is (No. 116)
" The Combat—Mercy interceding for the Van-
quished." The sight of it again was welcome to
us—the last time it met our gaze having been the
date of that superb collective exhibition of the
various works of William Etty, brought together
for one season some years ago in the rooms of the
Society of Arts in John-street, Adelphi. [Why are
these collective exhibitions reserved always until
after death ? What a charm and interest would
there not be in witnessing one, for example, of the
works of Maclise—one of Webster—of Stanfield—
of Landseer ? The only contemporary exhibition
of the kind we remember to have been attempted
in this way was one of Mulready—and gladly
should we hail the fact of its repetition !] To
return, however, to our hurried glance round the
three rooms at some of the works of art not yet
particularised,though most noticeable in the collec-
tion. There are two, at any rate, out of the three
Vandykes here on view, most worthy of the master
hand—(No. 5) the " Madonna and Child, with
Angels," one angel playing on the guitar, one on
the violin, both with angelic features divinely
prayerful, rapturous in the breathings of their in-
spired psalmody ! The other great Vandyke is
(No. 42) a brilliant and charming family group of
" Snyders, his Wife and Child." fhe neighbour-
ing room, by the way, presenting to view two
colossal paintings from the hand of that gentle-
looking, thoughtful-visaged Snyders (No. 104)
" A Boar Hunt," and (No. 110) "A Stag Hunt,"
the former especially admirable for its variation.
In (No. 105, and No. 108) there are presented to
the spectator's amused view by the bold, slashing
comical hand of Frank Hal's " Portrait of a Gen-
tleman," " Portrait of a Lady," such a lady ! such
a gentleman !—she presenting him with a rose—
he ungloving his hand to take it—both the most
pert, smirking,
good-humoured arrantest of vul-
garians I Yonder, hanging high up in the corner
there (No. 68), is the portrait—by Sir Godfrey
Kneller, of observant, prurient, gossipping, sly,
naughty old Samuel Pepys, the Diarist. Grandly
beaming down upon us from another wall is Hilton's
majestic representation, in (No. 162), of " The
Angel Releasing St. Peter from Prison"—surely
about the noblest angelic apparition artist's band