The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-30 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

EXHIBITION OF MODERN PAINTINGS, BY
MEMBERS OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY.

On entering the rooms in Post-office Place, the work
which first meets us is the Cartoon, •` First Trial by Jury."
by C. W. Copeland, R.A., which carried off the 360
guinea prize at Westminster Hall. It is a noble design,
simple and classically correct, yet graphic. The murderer
—a bondsman as pointed out by his wearing a collar
round his neck—is placed by the side of the prostrate
victim, apparently on the spot where he fell, and his wife,
stooping over the corpse, is detailing to the feudal Baron
and, an attentive Jury the circumstances of the murder.
Tho grouping and drawing of the various figures intro-
duced is most artistical and clever.

The painting, No. 1, in the large room, " Giving Alms,"
by C. Landseer, R.A., is an excellent specimen of the
artist's style. The subject is taken from the following
passage in " Styles Annals of the Reformation,"—" This
Knight nod his daughter had the character of very good
alnisgivers, in respect of their great liberality to the poor ;"
and the painter has given the worthy knight in the act of
distributing alms at the porch of his Hall to a crowd of
supplicants, whose various characters and conditions
are forcibly depicted. The knight. himself is a fine rep-
resentative of his class ; and, amongst the other figures
that of a negro and the sturdy Flemish-looking kitchen
wench, who is bringing out a supply of provisions, are
most striking.

No. 3, "The Deluge," by F. Danby, A.R.A., is a
wonderful painting, striking in its conception, and most
masterly in detail and execution. The artist has intro-
duced as his principal object a towering rock, around
whose base the mighty flood is surging, and whose steep
sides are studded with a multitude of human beings,
frantically struggling to attain its summit. The figures
and features of the crowd stand out clearly in the wild
white light of the tempest ; and those who have already
reached the top are painted with surprising force and,
at the same time, almost the minuteness of minatures.
In the foreground, on the left, a terrific scene is intro-
duced, in which a number of figures are seen clinging to
a tree, which is giving way beneath their weight and the
force of the waters. The sky and the pouring clouds are
fiinely ccnceived and full of grandeur; and through an
opening the ark is seen riding tranquilly in the distance.
A fine effect is produced by the blood-red sun, settling at
the left hand corner. This noble work of art deserves
to be studied, and will amply repay frequent visits.
No. 5, " And Christ was subject to his parents," by
Herbert, is a beautiful specimen of the artist, chaste and
simple in its details, and solemn in conception. The
youthful Saviour is represented as entering the work-
shop of Joseph, carrying a basket of chips, in a heap of
which upon the floor a cross has been accidentally formed
by two intersecting pieces of bark. He is in the attitude
of one startled by some dim remembrance or passing
thought ; and the painter has suggested, by the quotation
of some lines, that possibly at times his destiny was thus
suggested to him. The Virgin Mother has her eyes fixed
upon her son with a mournful and solemn expression, as
if she herself were conscious of the feelings which were
passing through his mind. His figure is the most strik-
ing in the picture, which throughout is full of genius.
We observe that an engraving of this work is in prepara-
tion.