New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-05-31
pxh;hi,ion of the National Academy
Titan Xandyck, Rubens and Velasquez


were Portrait paintersis the reflection winch III
laws consoles us when we hear OF the great num-
So oe rortraits in the Exhibition. Raphaeis ~"
,;,,, and Ieo are portraits-yes, and his Madohna
49, II Is not to be denied, however, that the
collection of portraits annually displayed upon Inc
Academy walls does not strongly remind the spec
tstor Of those elder Painters. The PORTRAIT oil
Lady, "Por,rait Of Gentleman" have been
Tho bntts of caustic criticism and satirical verse
for a quarter Of a century. This year the Acade
nv Exhibition seems to VS. no poorer IN portraits
than in former seasons, and, by the contributions
of Mr.. BAKER decidedly richer. We have spoken
already OF his brilliant color and mastery manage
ment. There is still wanting in his pictures
TRANQUIL tone, which will undoubtedly make itself
visible hereafter. They have the buoyancy, the
oyeraowing richness Of youth, but they indicate
also the power of achieving those ripper successes
which most deeply found true reputation and
permanently secure it.
There are several full length portraits in the first
room. MIR. HEALYs mo. BEAT the end ofthe room
is carefully finished, but the figures are fiat; they
are not round, human forms they are personally,
but not POLITICALLY, interesting MIR. CARPENTERS
mo. has the same character good likeness, but
is Of no general interest. Now the smallest part OF
portraiture is obvious likeness, or daguerreotype
exactness of imitation. The natural desire to have
"the best expression of friend in his portrait,
simply to see him upon canvas as he is IN the mind
and in memory, that s-his poetica likeness. We
are always conscious of something better In our
friends than an, TIN, G which is visibe-except in
few instances-and the representation of that is
what we requue of the painter. The youngest
scion of noble race, --the young Percy or How
ard--as he wanders through the gallery halowed
by the pictured presence of his ancestors, must
find in the impression they make upon his eye,
someieason for their majestic sway IN his magma
tion,-and every man before the portraits OF other
men, living OF dead is young Percy or Howard
recurring reason in the pictures of individual men
for his faith in mankind. Mr. SHEGoGUE'S portraits
do nos precisely satisfy this demand. Inc hgures
of his pictures are wax and wool ieebly treated.
In no exhibition in any part of the world have we
ever seen works of this character allowed the
prominence allotted to them by the Natona
Academy. Ii size and the balance of the rooms
are TO be accounted reasons for conspicuous posi-
tiop the Academy should announce that the
balance of the rooms and not the dignity OF art
and the character OF pictures, is the rule oil the
hanging Committee.
The gem of the portraits is undoubtedly Mr.
GRAy's NO. 3li) in the second octagon room
. smalI cabinet picture, but so delcately thought
and treated that it clings to memory like rare
flower. For ourselves it was an added charm to
this little picture, that it transported us to the
Tribune in the Uffzi gallery at Florence, and to
the Flert milne Fornarna. Ii has the same juno
nine Italian Characteristic same mellow trans
parency-the same richness OF tone. 1t Is alto
gether one of the most pleasing pictures we have
seen from Mr. GRAY, much more so than the
Others he contributes. The full length of two
children mo. 74) in the first room is clean and
wooden TO painful degree, and the want OF SIM
pcity in No. 422 is injurious to the effect because
the eve is continually wrestling with the access
SORES and general treatment. Yet all the PFC
lures that MIR. GRAY exhibits this year have a
freshness and sweetness of color and qaietness
of tone, which are very charming.
We have said that the ideal Of a portrait Is that
in which the character of the person represented
10 most adequately and POLITICALLY expressed.
Herein lies the difference between Dagasrreo-
type, which can never be work Of art IN the best
sense, and the pictures of Titan and Nandyck
Nut this is not to say that every portrait must be
beautiful, in the sense of presenting beautiful
person. Ii must be characteristic, II must have
the beauty of proprsty-and this may be attained
when the spectator would find little IN the sub
iect to DELAY his eye. 1t is this Kind of success
that we prase in Mr.. Hicks full-length portrait
NJ ex Gov. Fish. Ex-Gov. Fish is evidently no
Anollo-but quite as evidently he stands before us
in most living reality. The mere representation,
of course has no further interest than that of the
other similar portraits in the ROOM except that
it is that OF person more generally known from OFF,
cal postion Its success lies in its treatment
in its vigorous reality-its mastery model'ing-the
tiuhulness OF the accessories and their subordin-
alton to the main impression, thereby securing the
unity OF the work-in the skllfui caiar0 scuro-in
the heroic self.reliance which seeks no assistance
from conventional curtains and columns, but trust
solely to truthful rendering OF the iacts-and IN
the striking rich and harmonious color. The head
is q head which hands could feel; the hands ar
hands, and the same truthfulness psryades the
whole work, SO that ex-Gov. Fish does not look
like fresco upon the wall behind him, nor like
black paper pattern placed before it. lie stands
on his feet and his hand rests upon the table. In
contemplating the picture the eye OF the spectator
instantly seeks the head Of the figure, which is the
proper centre Of interest in every portrait as IN
every person, and passing from that IL recognizes
the naturslness of the accessories which, painted
with marvellous skill, have yet none OF the
tedious and frittering detail which is so soul
wearying in certain German aud other pc
lures, but are real like the man himself.
But MISUNDERSTANDING the accurate representation
OF these accessories, they keep their places IN the
picture precisely as they would in fact, but no
more and this graduation Of reality in representa-