The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-09-20

moderns. The quality lacking is the
touch, which is small and feeble, and
anything but justifes the assertion of
Ruskin that Gainsboro's touch was as
rapid as lightning. One of the men,
however, of George III's time is even in
advance of his reputation, and that one
is the drunken, careless, reckless George
Morland, man: who, if now living,
would take the highest rank among mod
ern painters. Turning from the relics
of the past, we will come down to the
pictures bequeathed by Robert Vernon
to the nation. There is an immense
room filed with Turner's pictures, most
of the red and yellow ones having been
reproduced in chromos. There is moth
ing further to say than that the chromos
seem to be quite as bad as the originals.
There are three pictures of Turner's,
however, which will hand him down to
the admiration of posterity, painted with
cool color and treated with what seems
to be magical skill. They are, 'The
Burial of Wilkie" lat sea, Grain, Steam
and Wind" and "Snow-storm at Sea- .
All the effects which the titles of the two
last indicate are given with most surpris-
ing force and power. / should unhesi-
tatingly select these three pictures as the
best of that or kindred subjects in the
whole world. I think it is in Room No.
/ that some OF the best pictures of the
great English painters are to be found.
Three or four of Landseer's pictures were
sent to the American Centennial. and
with the exception of the "Sick Monkey
were so far beneath the reputation of the
artist that it is marvellous that any Eng
lishman would have sent them over. In
this room, however, standing before pic
lures by this painter, pictures we'll known
in America through engravings, one
stands in wonder aud admiration. 1t
was delightful surprise. "The Cava-
lier's Hat" 1.-TWO Blenheim spaniels, J
Dignity and Impudence," "The Sleep
ing Bloodhound" and the "Horse Shoe
ing" are four pictures treated in totally
different manners with touch bold and
mastery, together with a refinement of
execution that one looks for in vain
in the work of any other artist, and a
glamour of poetry inseparable from all
this precision of idea and rigid purpose
that creates wondering, almost incredu-
lous admiration. There is one picture of
a girl milking a cow. 1t might be one
Of tile: milky herd of Apollo. There is
another, very large picture, represent
ing the Duke of Wellington i'll citizens
clothes, on horse back, on the field of
Waterloo. A lady is beside him also
mounted, and a peasant and his family
taking their lunch or Something" This
picture shows that the artist was as great
in the portriture of men as of four-legged
animals, while field and sky attest his
power as a landscape painter. In fact
there is no Englishman living that can
paint such a sky as floats over this pic
ture of the field of Waterloo. Landseer's
pictures have been called "dry and hard" +"
I think it must have been the criticism
of blind men. They are juicy, pulpy-
everything that is the opposite of dryness
and hardness. I fingered over these pic
lures until minutes grew to hours. I
cannot if would get away from the con-
viction that Sir Edward Landseer was
the greatest painter that ever lived at
any age or at any time. Maclise, the
greatest draughtsman that England has
produced, is represented by the play
scene in Hamlet; grand composition, in
color gray-too much of it. Calcott, R.
A., has most breezy landscape with a
real sky. Etty's pictures are charming
in color. None of these painters repre-
sent the English school," These paint
ers were great in proportion, as they re-
ceded from the conventionalities of Eng
lish art, and would have been. equally
great if they had been Frenchmen or
Belgians. "The English school," so
called, has produced no great painters,
and never will. In water color, the
English are excellent; beyond that they
have accomplished literally nothing Of
academic excellence, nothing good in the
School"
l took day to visit the Royal Acade-
my. Seven thousand pictures were
offered, and four thousand rejected. Per-
haps the rejected ones were the best
they certainly could not have been worse
than those on the walls. A picture by
the great Millais was called Crooks and
Water" What was meant for rocks
looked like curled-up birch bark-what
was meant for water I could not discover.
There seems to be no color, no form, no
texture, and no atmosphere in the Eng
lish landscape in oils. If this collection
consists Of good pictures, then must fall
back on the precedent of Sir Joshua
REYNOLDS, who said, when speaking of
the cold masters" "I frankly confess I
do not understand them." The room
was literally crowded with visitors, all of
whom seemed to swarm at intervals to-
wards point where fat hand pointed
with a dumpy fore finger 'to the re-
freshment room." Even among pictures
the English stomach clamors for nourish-
ment.
I have visited the following theaters in
London: The Criterion, Haymarket,
Gaiety, Vaudeville, Lyceum, Prince Of
Wales, Princess and Adelphi, also her
Majesty's Opera in the Haymarket. The
Haymarket Theater, where Jefferson is
about closing his engagement, is by far
the best of the lot. They are all Il speak
Of theaters, not opera-houses, and omit
Drury Lane) small, shabby, inconve-
nient, and would not be tolerated in any
town or city in America. All Londoners
who have. visited America are quite
aware of the Deficiencies in their own
theaters. In one respect they are in ad-
vance; they have hid their orchestra
under the stage. Every theater has its
bar on each floor. Ladies drink at them,
generally ale. 1t is custom so old that
It would probably excite amusement if it
were told that American ladies would be
horri6ed at such a practice. The rank
and file of the dramatic companies is not
good; but among the prominent artists
are some of surprising excellence.
Marie Wilton Mrs. Bancroft, the lessee
of the Prince of Wales Theater, is a
soubrette that reminds one of Mrs. John
Wood in her best days. Madge Robert
son mrs. Kendall) I think the best
actress of the day. Her husband is a
very finished and clever light comedian.
Mr. R;ohton ia an excellent burleSuue