New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-10-21
ain PORTRAITS nor prOstute his taIents . Win POPULAR

favor.
Very early in life Barry became filed with zeal for
antique art OF which-t Is pity 10 have TO sayithe had
notion than many another Englishman who has
gone as mad he the matter-Hilton and Haydon
Flaxman (whose madness none the less real for
being masked under severe and formal manners)
and Etty, all OF genius, who wasted the time and
ours in pursuing the shadow OF shade, In doing work
for which they had gift and for which their time had
There stories tragic than the lives OF
Barry and Hayden, and the tragedy is hardly in the
cases OF Hilton, Faxman and Ety, though they were
stretched the harsh bed Of pecary trouble as
were Barry and Hayden Hilton 17s6-ls39, scraped
along in life clmging TO his ideal, kept from absolute
by pittancc keeper OF the Academy and died
with nearly all his important pictures in his own posses
sion. The Rape Of Ganymede," in tie present col
lection, is good example Of his style. IL Is easy TO
see from 1t that he had the stuff in him
OF which painters are made, but he was only half.
hedgcd painter and bad skill 10 make by his treat
ment of them, such subjects as this their own excuse
for being. Flaxman, 1755-lS26, obtained lucrative
employment and by his industry, his modest content
ment, and his readiness to make his hgh-art hobby
nag passed through life without much material
suffering. ETY., l7S71S49 too, with as hot zeal for
the antique and the great italians Hayden but with
sense, willingness to criticise him
self and to profit by the criticism Of Others had pros
porous life tie whole, though he went through long
period Of trial and suffering The specimen Of his paint
Ing in our Exhibition, "The Sleeping Nymph" presented
TO the Royal Academy his election is thought to be
Of his finest pictures and IL has really all his essen
tial qualities but who honestly ind In 1t the
inspiration OF masterpiece Nor can more be
said of Barry's adam and Eve" though the
drawing clear and and the colorng has much
sweetness Yet there is here feeling no new motive
drawn from artists sincerity, 1t is only clever study
OF the nude from Academic models. There IL nothing
here of HaydoD 1856 1916 it is much to be wished
there were that we might have had in this room the
Of Judging in some measure this little group OF
earnest sclfsacrhcng mistaken artists, who were all
Of due time and ALL with perhaps the exception
OF Faxman wasted their powers in cOntending against
irresistible tide Of public feeling Yet we believe that
after all an important element in the question is too
often taken for granted Was any one Of these four
Barry, Hilton Ety, Haydon-a really great painterf
Wac .ry one 81 them much really good painter
our ,n belief il, after having seen all their important
wor aat thy all Indifferent artists. and that the
pub wac quite right in not caring for their pictures
n ..y dd not mistake their vocation, they mistook
their own capabilities They all gave hints IN small and
unpptcndlug works. and In portions OF some Of their
larger pictures, Of the possibility OF their producing
work worthy Of preservation but with this bee OF High
AT In their bonucts all power Of lovely tranquil and
sincere painting impossible.
or Romney, l73f-1sO2, name which OF late years
has been wounng higher and higher, there is nothing
here Mulreadys The Village Bufoon" is pretty
good specimen OF artist OF whom this side the
water we know nothing except through engravngs OF
few OF his works. Mulready a master in drawing
and had great skill in telling story, but In color he was
not great and the stories he had to tell generally
very fat and unneresting. In local color be exceed
aud his best pictures such the Choosing the We'd
ding Gown" he performed memorable fcats in the
imitation OF texture, but something is wanting in him.
and his place among English artists is no longer what it
once was Neither in his art nor In what he expressed
by did he appear to have any settled purpose, any
unity Of aim.
Wukie l7s5-ls4I is hardly better of than Mulready
in his appeal to the American public, for though bis
Boys Digging FOR a Rat" the picture painted in ISL
for the Royal Academy by whom it is lent, is good
specimen Of his way OF painting, and has also much OK
that life and energy which in the beginning Of his career
he well how to put into his pictures yet the field
on which these qualities displayed Is so small and
the theme So unnteresting that do not feel brought
very near By this picture to the delightful painter OF
"Blind Mans Buff" 1.-THE Penny Wedding" and The
Blind Fiddler" pictures well known 10 Us by excellent
engrayngs. Wilkc was happier Hogarth, with
knowledge Of human nature seen from its sunny side
equal to that which Hogarh had Of the mean the base,
the tragic side Hogarth however, exceed W.lkie
panter; and generally IL may be said of him that he
knew himself knew both what he could do and what he
could not do better than Wilke knew himself. and no
respected his limitations more than Wkie did bis
There be no doubt that much OF
the sodity Of Hogarth's reputation is owing
10 the singeness OF his aim and TO the steady
English pclsisency with which he held TO It. Wnke,
26 years younger than Burns and Ii years younger than
Scott makes third great name for Scotland and, like
his famous compatrots his work is best when IL most
smacks Of the soil Just Scocbmen assert that those
who know Burns by his English poems alone or Scott by
his novels, in which he confines himself as he does,
among Others in Kenilworth," "IyauhOe" Wood
stock" and Quentin Durward." to scenes outside OF
Scottish life aud scenery know these writer's only on one
side and that their weakest may be said that those
who know Wke only by his later pictures when bohin
his subjects and in his wayof painting he entirely forsook
his early paths know him only by his least interesting
and least valuable work. In 1925, when he was 40 years
Old he went abroad to renew his failing health, and in
Italy and SPAN first saw in their fulness of splendor
the pictures OF the great Italians aud those OF Velas
ouez Already dissatisfied with his work, and dis
couraged by the manifold difficulties that lay in the way
Of improvement 80 late in lifc he was carried out OF him
self by the sight OF works far in advance Of anything
he had ever known and from that time he tOrsOok his
native subjects and lis original methods and painted
scenes from Spanish and Italian le endeavoring in his
style to follow the methods Of Italian, Spanish, and
Dutch masters He has been too much reproached for
this change in his views. IL was inevitable and we
ought rather congratulate ourselves that ii came so
late IN life, lie bad already painted the many in
imitable pictures that give him place in the company
Of Hogarth and Scott. The pictures which stand for
Wie in the present collection painted in his earlier
years but they are not representative works either
their subjects or in their way OF painting. c. C.
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