New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-06-07

presents them as beauties MediOcrties elaborated
with self sufficient effort are, n all kinds, the
most painful subjects Of criticism. Happily the
Gallery Of the Academy offers few such this year.
In No. I34, Mr.. GIFFoRD exhibits one of his dreamy
summer landscapes. Stoddard sings exquislteiy OF
scene,
"Bathed In atmospheres Of sleep"
and the lire might well be the motto Of many Of
Mr. GIFFoRD's pictures. The teracing Of the
distant hill sides on the lake is admirably indicated
in No. 1884, and the feeling Of the whole scene is
sweet and poetic. Yet that dreamy haze is the
atmosphere ofthe Lotus, and may seduce the art
list from healthy sincerity. When an artist en-
ploys means which inferior men may use TO con-
ceal the faults Of their works, his own excelencies
must be the apparent to avoid the suspicion
of subterfuge. There is some want Of strength in
Mr.. GIFFoRDs landscapes, and Of freshness.
They are apt to have slightly fade air.
Mr.. HUyTIYGToN's Portrait Of Lady (li9) is
the best picture he shows. 1t is treated with
great richness and feeling and belongs TO the
higher order of portraits. The accessories, al
though characteristic and intrinsicaly interesting,
90 not wean the eye from the subject. The ac-
ton Of the right arm and hand is conventional and
stiff. however and the hand is not so much flesh
and blood as wax. How could those fingers posi-
bly bend Mr.. HCNTINGToS's Tribute Money 1902
isliable to the same criticism precisely as LEUTzEs
Raleigh and Elizabeth Is it more than pleas
ing picture of a scene already very clearly defined
and with very grand and solemn imagery, in the
mind Of the spectator There are some subjects
in every department of literature and art, which
can be satisfactorily treated only by remarkable
power, and, when once treated so, may hardly be
repeated except by very eminent genius. The
story of Hamlet, or the TRANSPORTATION, or the
Apollo or the Scriptural Feasts and scores OF
other subjects, could hardly be painted, carved or
sung again with any success, until the same ge-
MUS in another guise undertook the task. There
is in Mr.. HUNTINGToN's picture a sweet gravity IN
the head of Christ as good, possibly, Us the same
thing in any other picture But still it is not
new Christ II might have been studied from any
of those others. DO we then require Of the artist
perfect novelty in everything he does! Most as
suredly if an artist does anything we require that
il should be his work and not another's. He has
either no call to be an artist, or nature has
especially provided him with work to do, and
work which she has given to no other man.
A work like this of Mr. HUNTNGToSs, like the
one of Mr. DURAND's to which recently
alluded. makes certain claim and implies Ger.
tain standard. And the first caim-unless the
| work proposes to be copy or study OF another
picture-is that it is the work of the artist. Now,
| frankly, this picture necessarily recalls other
| treatments of the same subject and especially
Titian's Tribute Money" We do not find it
| better than that. We do not find that the story
is more significantly told or in more imposing
manner We do not find any thought in Mr..
HUYTNGToNs which is not in Titian's. The
great idea of each is the contrast between the n-
tellectua loneliness of Christ and the low cunning
of the jew In Mr.. HUNrINGToS's this is hardly
Given with sufficient subtlety. The brutal yisage
Of the brawny Jew against the tender tranquility
of Christ is too much of contrast Of the physical
with the spiritual. The trus opposition should
! borrow nothing from physical repulsion. The con-
! trsst should be strong but intellectual There is
a fine illustration of this in Retzsch's outline of
The Game of Life, in which the Prince of Evil has
the royalty of Luciier.
No l76is attributed to EDWIN LASDsEER. Ii
is a picture of no very marked character. No. Ill
is a characteristic work Of HERRING, who appears
TO be l.andseer without genius. Doing Nothing
| uSD is quiet little picture by MIR. JEWELL, in
the third room, of no great mechanical merit, but
| with pleasing sentiment in novel direction
among our artists. Another small picture in the
adjoining room, The White Stare, (343l by Dir.
! HINsDAIE, and his only contribution, has great
pathos. Ii is Hoods Song of the Shirt made
touchngly palpabe. Mr.. WILLIAMsoN's RtUo-
lutionary Airs t200) is another little picture OF
homely but natural pathos. The difference be-
tween this and Mr.. EDNoND's Spectator (23O)
is. that the former concentrates attention upon the
figures, and the sentiment which touches them,
while the latter eXcites admiration for the in.en-
ious detail of rude farm. house in which the
figures are superfluous. Mr.. f. TERRY's
Dorm mn (203) has great spirit, and his Cattle
piece (22l) has decided interest. There is tale
told by the contrast Of the chatting bull, closely
tied up, and the leisurely tranquility of the COWS
bevond the little brook. In the same room Is hr.
CAsILEAR's Landscape Composition, (2lO) a work
of great accuracy and care but which seems to us
rather mOnotonous and timid.
In the next room, the fourth gallery, are the
sculptures and drawings. A striking and grotesque
cartoon of passage in YOung's Night Thoughts
by Mr. HUBERT, No. 2j2, is somewhat too care
| fllly elaborated TO achieve the intention of the
artist. Mr.. CoXER's Winter (3Oi) is most deli
cately DONE and is very handsome. But why the
tear Does Winter weep over her own GOODNESS
No. 40 by Mr. Brown is vigorous and charae-
teristic water-color drawing Of an old Monk nod
ding before the fire. In ~. PaRFs Wreck t2i2
by Mr.. SHAW, as well as in its pendant, No. 24'
there is much feeling. In No. 2i2, the great .shiT
sinking, full sailed, is not without majestic i'm
preston. Mr.. PALMER, so pleasantly remembered
for his beautiful bust OF last year. contributes tive
this season. Nos. 27l and CSC both portrait busts
and both admirable. The extreme grace OF senti
mani the sincere feeling and the mechanical "a