New-York tribune., 1869-05-22
THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN.
FoRTY-FoURTH ANNUAL EXHIBITION.

| how many headS HOlDeln drew ana painted, ana yet
there is not that will part with Our Copley
an industrious man, and put great many people on
canvass all Sorts rich aud merely wclodo learned and
unlearned, tradespeope and statesmen and not Of
them but is interesting Mr.. Page never does his best
with head. and 1t ia only now and then he nods that
he does not excite desire know something about
his subject And the late Mr. Furniss who, If he had
lived, would have been Of the best portrait painters
OF his time, created the interest his pictures In
the mind Of Indifferent spectators. Therefore when
we come into this South Room, and find many portraits
representing human beings In whom it would have been
impossible Terence himself for all his large humanity,
to felt the least interest in the world know well
enough that the artist has failed, and nature. or
how many Of these pictures may not cay with our
Emerson:
When hou lootest on bis hcS
isy xs,ss h'sII san. Brother 80 ~ sAy'l
Or care msh fir what thon knowess
Or listen when thou rephesi,
Or remember where thou lest,
Or hoW thy slppern sodden'
And yet Hobein GaiusborOugh Titan, Reynolds
would have painted any Of them that kings would
have been glad TO have them in their galleries whereas
now It a chance II their children do not coHslgn
the most OF them to the garrett
The most conspicuous pictures in this room are two
porrats that OF the Hon. Horace Greeley, No. 3O3,
painted for THE TRIBUNE, by Mr. +. w. Carpenter, and
that OF r Andrew Mills No 26s painted for the Dry Dock
Savings Bank by Mr, Thomas Hicks. The latter artist
according to tho catalogue is National Aeademician
Mr. Carpenter, on tue other hand, Is plain Associate
and yet confess to seeing reason why Mr. Hicks
should hold in relation TO him position Of superiority
Certainly bis right that position does not lie In the
greater excellence OF his work II titles meant anything
in this case the pictures Of the Academicans ought TO
be greatly superior those OF Associates The fact
that they always occupy the best places on the walls at
tho Exhibition ought 10 be easily explained by another
fact that they plainly deserving Of IT, But the pub
n ~. - ~. ti,,to not ttra
Is hung upon the line" argues nothing as to Its good
ness IL simply means that 1t Is put there by man
whose relation 10 the Academy gives him the night OF the
strongest 10 the best place. aud he takes It, against all
doscrycrs Mr.. Thomas Hicks has been an Acadomcian
for nearly twenty years having been elected In lS ana
certainly Il is making unreasonable demand II We
insist that in the space OF me he should have made his
right 20 the position clear TO the world But after
eighteen years enjoyment OF this place, with all ts op
portuutles and advantages We for part are unable
10 pcrceye that he has advanced step. Nobody We
imagine say that any Of his threo portraits IN TINS
Exhibition Is n creditabe performance or above me
docrity No I2g. North Room, is specimen Of kind
Of work Mr. Hicks not uufrequently exhibits, where
We cannot help thinking that tho artist is making fun
Of his subject No 2O In the South Room Is posed In the
very spirit carcature II the catalogue dd not assure
us that this the portrait OF business man holding
official position where senmentalty H. or ought TO be, at
discount We should like It for the male partner In
ballet 'Uas de detu" Just he has finished grand
t,r de force and has assumed the conventional smper
with which animals await the expected applause
As for No 26s the only thing We see In II to congratulate
the artist upon his remarkable abstinence In the mat
ter OF accessories Here the friends OF many years
but their numbers are thnned We know the chair very
well; how many Gentlemen" have sat upon III We
know the roll paper and the books and the letter on
tho floor The tabecoth with its noble absence Of folds
and ts ane suggestion Of being piece OF painted sheet
lead we did not remember Nor were we quite sure Of
the statue Of Franklin But then we wero prepared for
il IN our mind and knew, at once, that the bandy smiling
gentleman beneath II manOfbusiness and that he
was smiling over his dividends and, moreover were
oulte sure that in consequence Of Frankns being so
near hs business be connected with savings banks
r IIfe Insurance or telegraph panes-with which OF
them we could not course tell until We had first looked
t our catalogue that at justified our suspicious
Indeed it would have been strange we had not guessed
somewhere near the mark for the reader will remember
that Mr. Hicks has been emblematic and picturesque
now for many years. and that have been no careless
tndcn Of his methods during all that time BY long
ce we pride ourselves having learned 20 directly
brough his allegory His emblems rarely puzzle us His
details have meaning for us, II for nobody else. All the
litter OF his portrait pieces Is as familiar to MS as our
garter and with variations TO suit his different sltters,
bos bc,n made familiar to the public also by perpetual
! repettlon We know that Mr. Hicks can plead custom
and good authority for this trick OF his Reynolds and
Cnsborough and Copcy all did this sort Of thing, and
greater men as we'll But the reader will please note two
bpps First all these men, when they painted portraits
mt their highest skill aud power into the heads aud
faces tried with all their might to express the characters
~ their sters chairs and tables tho inksands, and
seals and lace cuffs and satin wastcoats aferplay,
not the most serious part OF the work. and might have
hoon left ont without hurting tho picture. But with Mr..
Ircts and with Mr. Huntington, also, when he paints
fsize portrat the accessories are made TOO much o.
,ev dwarf the man whom come TO see we cannot get
A. him for his surroundings Then, second, these older
rarely ever iRuened the accessories OF their portrait
thew painted literally such as belonged TO hen abd thus
| - their pictures historical and individual Some
- 90 I'm the case OF his portraits OF John Adams and
| - urcock Copley has introduced tho same sort OF
, tIat we arc accustomed 10 see In the portraits by
| T,ts and Huntington. There are statues ana goDes,
,ulors and curtains cords and tassels DOCKS placed
hore no mortal man placed them, and impossible
| Iandscapes seen from improbable windows. But gen
| orally our almost great American was more sane
| ua Daintod tho actual furniture and dresses
~, ornaments Of his day, and 1t s our
80, co,nplaint against Mr. Hicks that with
~. .,oent,on OF the costume Of his portraits he Is
80 ,rue 70 indiyldul facts His people are not human
hos lint marionettes aud, being such, perhaps 1t Ii
os that their surroundings should be those Of the
| stage and not OF real life.
| We mentioned two pictures as the most conspicuous
| 80 an this room OF one we nave just spoken. The
other, that by MI f. d. OuPontoi' % P"'" " ~
TpmrsE and Is portrait of the Editor OF THE TRIBUNE
when we said speaking Of Mr. Pages portrait OF hehry
W. peecber that IL was the worst picture OF that lam
~ man that yet been painted, we ala not mean 'ha
Mr. PAGE has painted bad picture. No doubt Mr. Page
~ Acme his very best this OCCASION but 1--WE must do
,ond ourseycs) We think he had very difficult subject
The truth is that, when at rest Mr. Beechers face Ve
almost no hint whatever of the mind that presently vii
shno through and transngure It, Artistcaly' TINS
one Of Mr. Pages triumphs- Iii waste OF breath !"
a,a b,s portraits In England. In France In italy, III
.,onda with the foremost OF the time as portrai
in,o nut his excellence founded no less on MS owl
Pni"' :, ohoractar and devotion 10 the spirit Of hi