The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-18 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

- ~-

THE BRITISH INSTITUTION.
any'An agreeable saunter may now be enjoyed
fine afternoon round the Gallery of the old 8ri.17
Institution. And although many of our accu.,
tomed favourites are unfortunately this year a-vanelf
ing, there are still observable among the ii3t
exhibitors a few great names, and several smaller.._
ones, large at least in promise—to make up for_t7
deficiency-. If we have nothing 'his year from B.
berg, nothing from Leo, nothing from Creswiek',,
we have, at any rate, the satisfaction of `perusing
two or three of the charming landscapes and sea
scapes of Jutsum, as, for example, Nos. 3 and I'l
the picturesque "Devonshire Coast," and the plea'
sant "Hayfield." We are refreshed in spirit
by
watching the "Rain Clearing off," in No. 82, Pa,
H. Dawson—and tied an assuaging influence, IT:
by any means unwelctame in a period of easterly
winds, iu the
h the medium "sir
Autumn," caught throug`
glimpse sof a "Tranquil Streanathit;
Welch scene portrayed in No. 173 by ".-ra‘bar
white. There is an omission,
opting exhibition •0}
unusual kind in the early
native contemporary paintings in .
the gallery eel
naoreover, of a ranw‘c
the British Institution—the much-to- be-rf;grii, cote,
omission of the name of Sant, to which, ""`ii
thanks to his ready and most graceful pe:ic sta
have now for several years past become, in a -
ner, very delightfully habituated. There is e°Bo
siderable excellence to console us, however, ell
for this, in the " Boy's Head," No. 315, by W.
,be
Frost—and in a very different way also, in,"
" Pliant Hour," by W. P. Frith, R. A., a pict7;6
the one list mentioned, in which the artist
,400
interpreted the deep erotic charm latent in whirls
few and simple words of Othello, " Upon this
I spake"—spake, that is, to Desdemora, of Tstria,
loving and tender infatuation. Another an?. °n.
ingly contrasted Shaksperian painting, fufl g` Jess
of a diametrically opposite, though of a 1:"940re,
unmistakable description, will be lingered ba ,tor
we doubt not, by almost every individual vis\o,
this season to the Gallery of the British Iran',
tion. We allude to the wonderfully elaborated, Stu
ororria
tesque, fantastic, and eminently hura
picture delineative of the last scene in the e
Wiveo of Windsor"—the latest of the realy rid
markable paintings in oil lately given to the w° by
of art (to its mingled surprise and admiration) vat'o
the fluent hand of rare and inexhaustible Ge°rPit
Cruikshank. Such a Herne's Oak fairy scene °so
is ! With the Fat Knight tumbled (1°,...„
" squelch" among the furze and brushwoo4o4,
pinched, and pricked, and fleered at, and flout
es
stunned with noise and dazzled with torod
scared by gibes and covered with explosions
00
derisive laughter ! Yonder is Dame Quickly to
her knees, pummelling the recreant Sir John tea
her heart's content—yonder, fantastically nia,3Sy
as a Merry Devil, the roaring and roystering he
Pistol—yonder Doctor Cains (like a goose ea,
is) " absquatulating" with the mock Anne -"Pea
while the veritable original is being adroitly esrLlo.
off at an opposite corner by cunning Master Fenwailt,
The whole scene as portrayed by Georg.'
shank is replete (as any one might guess, Oro-
from his easel) with sparkling fun, frolic, and
'nation. John Gilbert affords us, in his turn,*
No. 76, a picture hardly less remarkable in its g to
tering life and vivacity—his canvas presenting tor
view, most picturesquely lit up with.gleams of3tho
light, "A Regiment of Royalist Cavalry at 1
Battle of Edgehill." Frank Dillon, in No.
(which we can't help " taking care of" in this,th'e
by an especial word of notice) reveals to view
.2;0
Colossal Pair, Thebes"—Sharay and Dainf . scl
nearest of the two being our old classic frier
Memnon ! The picture, if it does not reraina. 00
of Hunt's " Sphinx," at any rate bears compa,rl_soa
with poor young Seddon's "Sunset View of the lovout
Pyramid." We ought not, in justice, to Pas°tiers
into Pall Mall, before casting a glance of admira _lO
at George Lance's "Beautiful in Death," a gorgeo°o
limning of a dead marvel of a peacock ! WLitlgo
a momentary pause before Maw Engley's o'bc,"cki
pre-Raphaelite delineation of the "Talking `-'-oir
of Tennyson !" Above all, without a smile of Ir
der and of pleasure, at T. P. Hall's (No. 458)d fog
and laughter-moving version of " Moliere rea
bIo
to his Housekeeper' —a painting really adnir°
for its humour and vivacity.
THE PEACE CONFERENCE-4856'
PAINTED BY E. DUBUFE. f if el
A remarkable historical picture—almost, ear
might venture to say without exaggeration, of
lossal dimension—is now on view at 79, rola
hill, the well-known and popular gallery 01 who
Messrs. Leggatt, Hayward, and Leggatt. It is ". 0
production of Monsieur E. Dubufe, Chevalier of
Legion of Honour, and is the personal property °
the Emperor Napoleon lll.—having been paint I
'
expressly by order of his Imperial Majesty in CO7„‘
memoration of the late Notable "Paris Conte"
reoces." The magnitude of this extraordirorJ
work of art, will be more distinctly appreciable to
those who have not already seen it, when we °l;
serve that it is actually no less than 17 feet by 14
feet 6 inches, and that it includes as many as .fi.fiee,a,
"life-size" Portraits from the Life—Portraits from
sittings given to the artist by each of the fit Tie
remarable personages here represented. al
scene ,is the very room which was the litecie,
arena of the Conferences. The furniture and se_
corations being portrayed in it with careful. Its,
titude. Over the mantelpiece a Bust [of the •to
peror—that is to say not the Emperor, but tailt:
"present Emperor." In the foreground-3s
most conspicuous personages of the group
Pour principal representatives of the Four Prithe
P n,
pal Powers engaged in the late European Stragg'e
whether by force of arms or through the 'nett
of diplomatic negotiations—England in this "ba
being represented by Lord Clarendon—Turkey by
Aali Pacha—Russia by Count Orloff—France Air,
by Count Walewski. Besides the Austrian Envoy
the Prussian Envoy, and the Sardinian En
sr,ili
there are noticeable in the background such Ine"taa
Lord Cowley and M. de Bourqueney—not ferg;be
ting even among the notabilities taking part in r
Congress that astute and very essential partioiP3abie
in the labours of the Conferences, the very
Gil
gentleman who officiated at the table as the Feel?
Secretary. What we principally call to recolle,ee%'lo
be
after examining M. Dubufe's Great Picture 01,,,,e-
-" Paris Conferences" may be thus briefly °l:WA-
rated—the puffy and almost bloated face of the
lewski—the gigantic bulk of the burly Orlon'tao
pale and dyspeptic features of Clarendon--31'ifn
clear but wonderfully sour visage of the Prussic
Premier Manteuffel.
THE GREAT EXHIBITION-1.851.
PAINTED BY H. C. SELOT,7S. u
An astonishingly large engraving from the 1,71,
of Samuel Bellin, has just been issued from 'nil
Oxford-street, by Mr. Thomas Boys, the enaine;
and enterprising printseller. It is the result of an
elaborated and ingenious transfer to metal of %-
numerous figures delineated in the original 1:13.1-11:,;
ing by H. C. Selous—the picture representing ;-
one comprehensive view the memorable spectacer
of 1851,
in Hyde-park. The spectacle of
most gracious Majesty the Queen opening who
Crystal Palace of All -Nations upon tu6a
lovely May morning, not very soon, Wl-
conceive, to be lost to the world's roef?
i
ection. The crowd Of historical portraits I°--
troduced by the painter, and here faithfully
produced by the engraver—must of itself alone
regarded as matter for very general astonishalenl
Around the Queen upon the dias, the princ..,io‘
individuals of the Court. Close beside her Als,ll,
jesty—H.R.H. the Prince, accompanied by ~
two eldest of the Royal children. Upon the Sens'
reign's left—the splendidly and variously attire
members of the Corp Diplomatique. Upon 13,eff
Majesty's right the leading Statesmen of lie
Houses of the Legislature, mingled here and there
with other personages otherwise remarkable'
About the most conspicuous individuals in the
foreground being tbo munificent and enterprisTf.
Sir Samuel Morton Peto, in his deputy-lieutenan'.;
uniform—the man who was to the Great Exhibition
what William Dargan was afterwards to the Great
i
Dublin Exhibition. The observer will not fail, ~
course, to recognise at once among the other
portraits introduced the Duke of Welling;
ton, and Lord John Russell, and Richst'a
Cobden, and Dr. Lyon Playfair, and a variety '3l'
other notabilities grouped together most miscellane'
ously. The most unsatisfactory portrait of all, to
our mind, being (strange to tell) that of her rnes"*
gracious Majesty the Sovereign. As the visible
memento of a great historical event the huge err
graving before us will be recognised, at once and by
all, as one singularly valuable and attractive.
BOLTON ABBEY—IN THE OLDEN TIME*
• PAINTED
BY SIR EDWIN L
in regard to trenrseEiEssnu'eßol.
A masterpiece,which
it is only necessary to notify here in the briefest
terms imaginable, the simp
others of
le fact of its re-
appearance.
are—this others
Sir Edwin Landseer's extraordinary works of art
incontestably
one no less incontestably is,
among all his works, the most admirable the met
truthful, and the most eminently beautiful. "Bol-
ton Abbey in the Olden Time" being to Lands"'
in his department of art, what the "Descent froth
the Cross" was to Sir Peter Paul, what the "Last
Slipper" was to Leonardo what the " Transfigure"
tion"
was to Raffaelle. In speaking thus we are
not, we conceive, speaking in any way extrava"
gautly. We are talking of Sir Edwin in his cha-
racter as an animal painter, as the animal painter.
And viewing him as such, we accord to his noble
picture of "Bolton Abbey" the' first and foremost
place of all, as indisputably his masterpiece. En-
graved very charmingly by W. T. Davey, it is nog
issued anew most enticingly from Mr. Boys' roPu
lar 04 tablishment,