The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-09-24 00:00:00

SECOND NOTICE.

pt:ntings in this exhibition
A further inspection of the
increases our estimation of its mor.lthan usual merit ;and
the pride which we ought to feel, cm' only in the growing
talent of the artists belonging to °throw): academy, but as
well in the fact that the painters of other I,:aces in Great
Britain appreciate, by sending their pictures ?sere, the
taste and liberality of our merchant princes. Theo are,
in every part of the rooms, productions, of which any ex-
hibition and gallery in Europe might by proud ; and some
which, when the prestige and fashion of mere name shall
have passed away, and pictures are valued in accordance
with their intrinsic merit, instead of in accordance with
the prices which they will bring from the dealer, or the
collector, will rank side by side with those of some of our
most popular masters. There are several, also, in which
we recognize the gems of future excellence ; and which,
when the author, by dint of study, matured taste, and
finish, shall have reached a better standing in the world,
will be prized more highly than the mediocre pro-
ductions of many an artist at present enjoying high repu-
tations, and reaping those rewards which greater discern.
ment would distribute to encourage the meritorious
beginnings of better men.
In our course through the exhibition, we must explain,
we shall not confine ourselves to any order, either of
number in the catalogue, or of merit. We merely take
our mornings stroll, and jot down otrr impressions of
whatever painting chances to strike us. With this ex-
planation we shall commence with

No. 104. " The ilayfield,';l;3 Alexander Johnston,
an artist whose " scene from the Lady of the Lake"
won the prize at the last exhibition. His picture of this
year is, in our opinion, although faulty in some respects,
a more meritorious one than that of last year. The sub-
ject is taken from the old song--
"'Twas within a mice of Edinboro' town,
* In the rosy time of the year,

Bonnie Jockey, blithe and gay,
Kissed sweet Jenny making hay.'"
The figures of Jockey and Jenny, which we presume are
those on the left of the picture, are characteristic, and
well painted. Another pair, in the background, more
advanced in life, who seem to he carrying on a little
flirtation, are also well painted. The gem of the picture,
however, is the girl stooping in the foreground—a perfect
specimen of the Scottish maiden. The group in the
righthand corner of the foreground—a widow we con-
ceive, with her child in her arm, and a boy on one side
playing with an unfledged lark, and a girl intent upon
reading—is very meritoriously conceived and painted.
The other figures are equally well executed, with the
exception of the dog in the foreground, which ought not.
to have been so wretchedly daubed, being a prominent
object. Landseer or Ansdell would have made it a
leading character in the picture; or if, through fear of
withdrawing attention from the main subject, they had
abstained from bestowing upon it their full powers, they
would at least have painted a respectable dog. The light
in the picture is beautifully managed, and the grouping
good. The scenery in the background, however, is rather
sketchy, and the hay decidedly a failure. We fancy,
however, that hay, as ripe and being gathered, is rather
difficult to paint.

On a line with this picture is one, No. 109, " The Har-
vest Field," by TV. F. Witherington, R.A., to which,
being a kindred subject, and the artist being enabled to
append the magical letters R.A. to his name, one would
imagine that some extent of merit would attach. A more
meaningless picture, however, we never beheld. It is a
mistake in painters to imagine that in copying nature,
however faithfully, they are properly exercising their
powers. A painter from nature is, after all, little better
than a copyist. We require that a picture should possess
a soul ; should tell a tale ; should give to nature some-
thing provocative of lofty emotions, or of those with
which we are moved by the achievements of intellect em-
bodied in a poem or a play. A man who can place before
us the conceptions of a Shakspeare, or who can paint for
us a rural scene from Thompson, we should be disposed
to class as an artist worthy of all honour; but we cannot
treat thus one who, like Mr. Witherington, merely gives
us a few meaningless reapers, and expends his skill in the
elaborate painting of a few ears of wheat.

No. 2, " A Baptism in Scotland," by John Phillip, is
a production of a very different class from that which we
have just noticed. In artistic merit it is very clever.
The morning light streaming through the window upon
the group assembled to witness the ceremony is finely
distributed, and the figures well-grouped and full of cha-
,e. The charm of the picture, however, is that it
Jontains within itself the elements of a poem or a domes-
tic novel. What can be finer, for instance, than the sen-
timent embodied in the glance of the aged man on the

right hand of the picture towards the aged female, sup-
ported by one of her children or grandchildren, and evi-
dently overcome by some memory of the past, or by the
solemnity of the occasion ? What more provocative of a
wish to learn the history of the family assembled together
than the puckered-up features of the stout dame on the
left of the picture ? As a whole the production is most
meritorious ; and there are.few in the exhibition of which
we should prefer the possession.
41. " Portrait of J. Brooks Yates, Esq.," by Philip
TVestcott, is anZexcellent likeness, as well as a carefully
finished picture. The calm thoughtfulness of the scholar

and the eentleman, and the amiability of the philanthro-
pist beam upon us from the canvas as faithfully as if the
original was seated before us. The picture will be an
ornament to the room of the Literary and Philosophical
Society, for whom it was painted, and will hand down to
posterity the living lineaments of one of the most talented
of its members.

164. " Portrait of Col. the lion. Sir Edward Cust," by
Thos H. Midge, is another fine portrait. The figure is
dignified and striking ; and the colouring and manage-

rnent excellent throughout

Next to this is a very cle;er

production, No. 165," The Marchioness of Douro," by
Gamlardella. Nothing can be imagined more beautiful
and noble, both in feature and in figure, than the Mar-
chioness is pourtrayed for us by the artist. The details
of the
_picture are very clever,_ and the colouring rich,

especially The red velvet body of the dress, which is very

beautifully brought out from the canvas

169. " tomus-," by R. Huskisson, is a clever produc-
tion, well conceived, and displaying great resources of
imagination and fancy. The colouring is transparent, and
the light and shade well contrasted.

EXHIBITION OF 1851.

EXHIBITION OF RAW MATERIALS AND PRODUCE IN THE

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, AND MINERAL KINGDOMS.
The success which has attended the exhibitions of the
Royal Agricultural Society and other similar societies in
the United Kingdom, and the marked improvements they

_ .
have introduced, not only in the produce of corn, roots,
and other vegetable sulistances, but in cattle, and all
kinds of implements of husbandry and gardening, afford a
sufficient guarantee that these departments will be fully
represented in the Exhibition, and bear a satisfactory
comparison with similar contributions furnished by
France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, as well as the New
World. There is no fear but that British growers of
wheat will be fully prepared to exhibit their samples of
produce alongside those from Dantzic and the Rhine,
from Poland and the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and
America ; and that the farmers of Sussex and Yorkshire
will show their wools with those of Spain; and that our
flax growers N'o.ll meet with confidence those of Belgium
and Italy. It may, however, be remarked, that every
district should be careful to ascertain that any culture
which is peculiar to itself, such as hops to the South of
England, dried medicinal herbs in Surrey, canary seed in
the Isle of Thanet, mustard in Durham, &c., &c., is ade-
quately represented on this occasion.
But although the public mind has already been suffi-
ciently influenced by the agricultural shows to be alive to
the due representation of all the departments of the vege-
table and animal kingdoms, the section of the mineral
kingdom is a novelty ; but almost every parish may
contribute to the completeness of the Exhibition, and to
the development of its own resources.
Jet, agates, cornelians, and stones useful for personal
decoration, are:found on many parts of our coasts. whilst
rock chrystals, spars, and other similar stones, are yielded
in most of the mountainous districts. Many villages in
England. Scotland, and Ireland, are able to send such ob-
jects, and thus take their part in the exhibition. Numer-
rous localities might supply beautiful marbles and stones
of great variety and value in building, which at present
are not known out of their locality.- Clays of different
kinds suitable for pottery abound in many parts of the
United Kingdom, which would be likely to obtain a vary
extended commercial value, if they were brought forward
and made known on this occasion, accompanied, if possi-
ble, by some manufactured article. In Dorsetshire,, for
example, a very common yellow earthenware is made of
AMERICAN EXECUTIONS.—On the execution of Dr.
the cheapest kind, which certainly ought to be shown, as
should the clay used at Prescot and other pants of
Webster the Times has the following remarks :—" The South Lancashire for the manufacture of the earthen-
good people of Massachussetts have made a very long ware so well known in this neighbourhood. Airy fine
business of it. It is now half a year since the trial, and sands which may be considered as suitable for- glass-
several months since there was no doubt of the result. making should be exhibited, which may be easily done in
America is, indeed, a land of strange contrasts. Much glass phials;. a specimen of such sands should be con-
excellent justice is meted and administered thereat twenty tributed from every looanty where they may be found.
minutes notice, and other matters of importance are done The immense value of these discoveries to the locality
there with singular despatch. Why, then, was this great itself where-they are found, may be illustrated by a recent
and evident offender stretched on the rack of expectation case :—Within a short period, an estate has. been pur-
for so long a period ? It was not, as in some European chased near Maidstone, in ICent, and the new proprietor-
countries, to extract a confession, for the attempt was not forthwith examined its mineralogical properties. Ile
made ; and shriven or not shriven, the Professor was found a pit of beautiful sand: suitable for glass-making,
hung. As yet there is no clear understanding as to the
grounds on which execution among us is precipitated or which is now supplied ta, the metropolis in tons ;he also
: found seams of clay suitable for pottery, and. now a large
deferred. There is mercy in speed. and there is mercy in
delay. As the interval between judgment and execution pottery is established,, with its steam-endue and proper
is the most terrible that a man can have to endure, it is machinery, and thus a new means was opened for em_
is the superabundant labour o 1 the surrounding
mercy to shorten it ; and, on the other hand, there is-the agricultural villages. Moreover, the proprietor, on his
vague and precarious hope that a bad man, who knows own estate,. found excellent building stone. Five years
his end and the number of his days, will tern them to age., these precious materials, which now yield him a pro-
better account than he had formerly done the uncertain
and his neighbours
tenure of his natural life. There was too much.finesse fl, work, went ring undiscovered in 't
and policy in Webster's use of his six montlis to give the
delay any value as a precedent. He was too much occur , theAenaoi .Ihle.r instance of a valus:nle discovery Is the Green
Sand of Farnham ; an exhibition a few years back of the
pied in contriving how to die a penitent,. and yet not a . valuable Green. Sand of Farnham would hnve had the
murderer. In other respects the delay has not been pro- effect of drawing attention at an earlier date to this &dual-
fitable. Webster was literally the state criminal during rable assistant of the agricultural interest, and enabling
that period ; cooped up for the gallows,. the first news of other districts to ler,rn that they too bad it, though they
the day, the best thing on the editor's list. As one had not known its; value. The same remark may be ap.
turned over a file of United States journals there was plied to. the Cor,rolites of Felixstowe. Fuller's Earth is
Webster, Webster, Webster, expanded into infinite de-
now atai'mkbl'a ' for commerce in only two or three dis-
tails. Jenny Lind. happily arrived almost on the very tricts,. but
day of his execution, but she can hardly fill up the void It is a
ursirable that inquiry should be made in every
W obably exists in many if it he sought for.
he has left. Qur own murderers are but a nine days' village #
•' wonder. In. America everything is colossal, and they als,
seem r-'-sr:tveci to have the biggest murderer in the world, ed '
V 0 ascertain whether it has not some raw materi.
, well as vegetable produce, which might be exhibit,
and to. make the most of him. If the sober people of on this occasion to its own great advantage.
Any information may be obtained from the Liverpool
-Alr
.nsachussetts wished to set a good example to their
nasty neighbours in Texas and the Western States, thin Local Committee, whose office is in Lord-street,
have overshot the mark, for these fiery children 'of ./ It should be borne in mind that the Commissioners for
bright setting sun will never be able to keep the the the Exhibition have appointed the 31'st of (?etcher as the
geance in bottle for more than half a year," .r yen- last day for receiving demands fot 'space :s'?a Local Coeae
tnittees,

Mr. David Hodgson, alderman,
Mr. William Walthew.
Mr. A. Swainson, Alderman.

Mr. John Woodruff.
Mr. T. B. Horsfall, alderman.
Mr. William Preston.
Mr. It. B. Hill.
Mr. James Lawrence, alderman

Mr. G. H. Horsfall.
CASTLE-STREET . Mr. R. S. Henderson, alderman
Mr. George Holt.
St. PETER'S Mr. Daniel Bell.
PITT-STREET Mr. Thomas Sands, alderman.
Mr. Thomas Rimmer.
GREAT GEORGE Mr. Richard Harbord.
RODNEY•STREET Mr. J. A. Tobin.

ABERCROMIIT
LIME-STREET

Mr. George Booker.
Mr. R. C. Gardner.
Mr. J. B. Lloyd.
,Mr. James Parker.
Mr. John Bent, Alderman.
Mr. Josias Booker.
Mr. J. H. Turner, alderman,
Mr. R. L. Jones.
Mr. William Mann.

ST. ANNE'S..
WEST DERBY

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