New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-06-23

we agree that il is-but II rs hand strained ana weary
with holding a teapot to be painted.
There is q point on which we do not wish 70 dwell
but we must allude to it In passingMr Farrers want
Of taste These subjects are merely meant 10 pe pleas
ing pictures for sarey there is nothing deep or poeuo
in either They do not awaken any very serious emo
ton, or feed tine mind with thoughts or suggestions
They belong to the class Of genre pictures and az snch
they require for perfection that the artist should be
sensitive the laws that regulate what we cAn Tor lack
of better word taste II Is no excuse when the ar
rangement of the furniture in a room like that in No.
l6 is found fault WITH say that it was 50 In reality
and had always been So The artist Should have ar
ranged it properly. We don't see how he could deib-
eratey sit down and paint the Venus Of Milo In such
place-tucked away under a small teapoy. And what
cast OF the Venus is ti 1t is too large for The small
one too small for the larger one, and yet faithful
COPYING of the room has been aimed a. II ought 10 be
recognizable at once The whole room, however, mas
bare. bleak unfurnshed look and the ladys dress is
quite out Of keeping with her surroundings. men,
again in the Home Seenes'the tabecloth IL pretty
although it is impossible 10 tell what the material Isl
and thegas both the gobets and the ground glass dsn
and the china quite wei painted, but nothng
pretty nor tasteful in the room. The mating IL an
nglv color one that never comes; the Wallpaper Is
mean in design, the green curtain-why not drawn
aside lis heavy ard gloomy looking ard the lady Is III
dressed Beside she is housekeeper. has got noth'
ing good for apples rols-and are rols GU
with knife land ornelet that is only big enough Tor
one; yet there be some one else coming ior there
two teacups and apie Of dinner plates ferhaps'
however, the on.eet is butter but 1t is butter nom
Utopia or Arcadia. No butter that we ever saw was
Of such color. Now Mr.. Farrer was bound by his
subject to make II cozy comfortable and abundant look
ing TO invent copy an artistic arrangement OF iuin
ture and elegant mot rich nor snowy nor necessarily
expensive but elegant surroundings and the lady ougf
10 have been rueh model OF all the domestic beauties
and virtues tina. hood would have sunk at the
sight Of her irrecoyeraby below par We are sorry to
saw however that an impression has got abroad that
she is a maiden lady OF annuptia procivities which
no gentleman seems inclined 10 reason her out o.
But all thee defects though vital, are as nothing TO
the nexIcable bunders in perspective and statement
Of fact in both pictures though they show their worst
in the April" subject. The carpet is not only not
WOOL hut mere painted boar6-huf, the lines IN u are
30 drawn as TO give It an ab.urdly Cd look as IL it
had been stretched or pulled. Then. yo1 take the
two sides of the room and try to account for them, II
can only be done on the snpposicn TIA tie room Is
triangular aud when you look oct Of tie window this
supposion is strengthened by the set Of the opposite
houses which appear be parallel TO the side where
the window is. These homes, by the way, nre wei
painted and have al unmistakable outof doors look
but the tree against the sky not nicely painted at all
And now, look at the soldiers Is this room on The
second story or the fourth The size Of the soldier
saws, the fourth or fifth. But. il II be the fifth, W.
could not see the pavement the soldiers from where
we stand. And il the room be on the second floor
the men are out of all proportion small
The errors in perspective in the smaller picture arr
similar In both pictures the covering Of she floor
carpet mating disappears few feet nom the fron
line and is seen no more. Tie lines Of tho window
frame in the little picture between the curtais
slope as they certainly would not do in reality. And
the easel is drawn that the picture could not stand
OIL It, if it placed in nature nor does the nearer
leg of the easel keep straight from top to bottom.
| Now these misstatements not only without any
excuse but they NOT easily 70 be explained
Mr. Farrcr a remarkably correct eye for form. We
do not what he will think reading our deliberate
opinion that he has feeling whatever for coor that
his pictures are almost always unpleasantraw and in
sarmosious-in color. Yet, such 10 the fact But, his
eye for form IT, have said. remarkable aid his
power OF copying. Of initiating cannot easily be sur
passed. We win therefore propose the only solution
that we have found for the curious problem that these
two pictures present. and we believe that II accounts
for much of their infcrory TO his former work work
of tie Host striking excellence done within few
weeks
We think that Mr. Farrer has weakened his power of
using oils by his long habit Of working with the pencil
point and the pen. With these implements be las at
tanned marvellous delicacy and aecuracy-sueh work
a. he has done pen and pencil has rarely teen sur
passed anywhere-bu he should have kept UP equally
steady practice with the brush and color He cannot
use oil colors with any dexterity Perhaps the
best things he has ever done with oils were the noun
tain and the stones in his brook picture in the Artist
Fund which did not get the treatment at our bands II
deserved. Bot even that work-looked at Ms mere
painting was far from frstrae. The drawing was the
drawing Of master the painting the painting of q
tyro And in these pictures. the painting is most I'M
skilfu The drawing OF the blue dress the folds and
the reflections the reflections In the gobes and one
two Of the other things the table trstrate but
the painting is coarse and urrefned.
And finally Mr.. Farrer not only has no natural gft
for figure painting but he has practice in IL and Of
course he could not expect to do better than las done
Such pictures ought TO be the resul. Of many years
steady work in the one narrow field OF genre Pointing
Clouds mountains and violets are no preparation for
painting the human faco the human body, and we beg
Mr. Farrer in conclusion ~ let genre CO. and keep TO
his QUITO door nature and FOR year at least to lay
az de ais lead. pc neil and his pen.
Annual Meeting Of tho New.York State
Eclectic Medical Society.