The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-10-17 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL ACADEMY EXHIBITION.

FOrETTI NOTICE.
No. 68. " Blindman's Buff," by the late Sir David

Wilkie, R.A., like its companion picture, the " Penny
Wedding," is an admirable specimen of the artist's early

style, and, like it, has been kindly contributed by Her Ma-
jesty, of whose private collection at Buckingham Palace
the two form conspicuous ornaments. In the picture now
under consideration, the beauties and defects to which last
week we made casual reference are obvious and marked
The composition is sparse and scattered, and the general
arrangement conveys the idea of a vast and nearly empty
hall, such as nowhere greets the eye in any Scottish farm-
house of the period indicated. On the other hand, the
rich warmth and juiciness of colour which pervade the
whole subject, and the minute truthfulness of character
and appropriateness of action and expression combined in
the several groups and individuals composing the picture,
are in the highest degree charming and artistic. It is
also happily imbued with that quaint and telling humour
for which Wilke's pictures of his early, and by many con-
sidered his best, style are so remarkable. Minute and
careful finish, generally accurate drawing, a fine mellow
tone, and massive, yet not obtrusive, breadth of light and
shadow, constitute the leading and most attractive fea-
tures of this beautiful specimen of the master.
No. 2. " Edward IV. and Elizabeth Woodville," by Mr.
Alexander Johnston, is a picture in very many respects the
opposite of that which has been just alluded to. It is
carefully studied, not ill drawn, and it is forcible in colour ;
here, however, most of its good points end. The figure of
Edward is stiff and formal, and his countenance is en-
tirely void of expression. Elisabeth Woodville, the princi-
pal figure, is theatrical, if not commonplace, her action is
strained, and unfortunately of her, as of a great poetic
character, it may be said she is " not good looking." The
action of the youngest child is natural, nestling under the
mother's arm, is beautifully suggestive of filial affection
and dependence. As a whole, the picture is heavy in
effect and unsuggestive. This should not be so. Mr.
Johnston has done good artistic service, and unquestion-
ably possesses talent vastly superior to anything he dis-
plays in this work, and if he means to retain the reputa-
tion he has justly earned, he had better " look to it," that
he presents the public with no more such specimens of
stuffed lay-figures as those which form the leading charac-
ters of this piece of unskilled labour.

No. 172. " A quiet Pool, on the River Mawddach, North
Wales," by Mr. H. J. Boddington, is a piece of beautifully
painted external nature. The water is limpid, liquid, and
refreshing in tone. The general landscape is rich in pic-
turesque form, and beautifully truthful in colour and at-
mospheric effect. The whole scene is rendered with
transparency and warmth of tone ; and the air of quietude
and repose which pervade the " quiet pool" are happily
suggestive of its title. In the handling the artist displays
readiness and decision, without making the secondary and
mechanical departments of his art usurp undue import-
ance. As a piece of genuine English landscape this must
be looked on as a favourable specimen, and one which is
highly creditable to Mr. Boddington as an artist, who goes
to nature for his effects, and studies them with care as
well as knowledge and affection.
No. 179. " Riva dei Schiavoni, Venice," by Mr. W. Cal-
low, exhibits truthful drawing and artistic combination of
objects. The general colour seems raw and crude, and
Mr. Callow has obviously erred in introducing the sultry
haziness of an English sky into a Venetian scene.
No. 441. " Venus and Adonis," by Mr. W. D. Kennedy,
is a picture calling for remark more on account of its de-
fects than because of the very scantymerits it possesses. It
is intended to represent th e Queen of Love entreating her
beloved Adonis to quit the chase, as perilous ! and to
render the subject mythologically correct, Mr. Kennedy
has profusely introduced a set of nondescripts, intended to
figure as Cupids, Fauns, Pan, et id genus, the remarkable
peculiarities of all of whom seem chiefly to rest in the fact
that they have no bones on which to build their flesh. The
greater proportion of them are also as singular in the rose-
pinky tints of their persons and features as they are odd
in their contorted flexibility of limb. ASuch outrageous
drawing as is to be met with in most, if not all, of the
figures introduced, and they are numerous, it has hardly
ever been our lot to fall in with. In this picture the am-
bition of the painter has had little aid from the skill of the
draughtsman, and quite as little from the culture or feel-
ing of the artisi.
No. 214. " Uncle Toby and the Widow," by Mr. C. R.
Leslie, R.A. The sly humour conveyed by this picture is
almost as quaint and dry as the colouring in which it is set
forth ; nevertheless, it is a work of genuine excellence. In
drawing and painting it is bold, and as an artistic embodi-
ment of Sterne's sarcastic wit, it is beautiful. Thethorough
matter-of-fact simplicity of the veteran, contrasted with
the wily, yet pleasing, blandishments of the wooing widow,
is in a high degree interesting. The picture, however, has
for so long a time been familiar to the public, through the
medium of engravings, that either description of its merits
or criticism on its peculiarities are uncalled for.
No. 56. " A Mountain Lake," by Mr. S. R. Percy, is a
picture in which nature has been carefully, though not
slavishly, followed. The mountain scenery is bathed in a
flood of lustrous light, betokening the approach of sunset.
A quiet harmony rests alike on hill and lake, while the
transparency of atmosphere represented is at once natural
and. suggestive. The prevailing colour, though tending to
an excess of purple, is on the whole harmonious ; and the
mode in which the composition is arranged indicates the
judgment of the artist not less than the eye of the student.
In handling it exhibits freedom and decision, and in spite
of a certain multiplicity of lines, the picture is an interest-
ing and a truthful one.
No. 131. " The Hon. H. T. Liddell, M.P. for Liverpool,"
by Mr. R. Buckner, is a cabinet half-length portrait, in
which the artist has laboured most assiduously to produce
delicacy and sweetness of effect rather than power. The
features are correctly drawn and well painted, suggesting
on the whole, however, the fastidiousness of refinement
rather than the vigorous energy of public life. In treat-
ment and handling the picture is pleasing and effective.
No. 215. " Touchstone Moralising on Life," by Mr. J.
Campbell, jun., is a subject, which, if vigorously treated,
might have resulted in a good as well as an interesting
picture. In the hands of Mr. Campbell it has degenerated
into a matter simply ridiculous, if we are forbidden to use
also the epithet hideous. Sprawling, unrelieved limbs,
and a smug expression of features, are in this instance, it
would appear, intended to do duty for artistic simplicity
and natural expression. If so, the artist seems to us to
labour under a misapprehension of his subject and his
means of realising it. Let hip go to Nature, and he will
there find little presented to Ills eve in the harsh, hard,
cut-about style he seems to affect. Tint blending with
tint, line losing itself in line, are the invariable characteris-
tics of nature in her workings; and although it is quite
possible to substitute slovenliness for generalisation, it is
scarcely a less fatal error to sacrifice everything to an in-
dividuality produced by contrasting colours and hard
outline.

No. 132. " Abraham Entertaining the Angels," by Mr.
J. Linnell, is a picture, or, rather as it would appear, a
sketch in most respects the opposite of that to which
attention has been last directed. It is rich and harmo-
nious in colour. Its details are unobtrusively worked out,
and the general effect is pleasing. The chief fault in the
treatment of this subject is its want of definition : yet it
is a picture on which the eye rests with satisfaction, un-
fatigued by conflict of parts, yet gratified by a general
flow of chromatic sweetness.