New-York tribune., 1883-06-05
ART IN LONDON.

The PICTURES AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
lrRoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRrBuSs
- LONDON, May 10.
Private view day at the Royal Academy is not
day for looking at pictures but for seeing people.
The council sends out invitations to largo number
Of persons who are supposed to be particularly In
terested in art. There was time, suppose, when
these invitations really issued and accepted IN
order that the paintings of the year might be seen
quietly before tho rush OF the paying public began
This fiction now survives in the pbraseology OF tho
cards, but Academcians and their guests agree in
| regarding the private view as gigantic drum.
Some Of the faithful still go early in the day xnd
make con ,cientious tour of the galleries. Four
fifths of those asked have tact understanding
that they will meet the afternoon to see and be
seen. Ladies put on their newest and smartese
frocks. Sir Frederick Leighton may or may not DO
there to receive the guests Of the institution over
which he presides No Of politeness exacts at
tendance from him. None the less is 1T IAN after
noon party. It Is understood that the number OF
invitations distributed this year was less than
usual. The list was ruthlessly weeded and many
were the lamentations of those leftout. Those who
were lucky enough to be asked bore the misfortune
of their excluded friends with the proverbial fort-
tude consoling themselves with the remark that
the rooms were much less crowded than usual which
WAS true.
sit good exhibition We'll, the answer to that
may vary with the point Of view. met an Aca-
demician at lunch who assured mo that 1T was
very fine year indeed. Half an hour later we'll
known critic impaired to me his conviction that the
show was mostly rubbish" / should like to agree
with the former, but cannot; and nothing shall
induce me tJ say that think my too critical friend
was justified IN pronouncng condemnation 30
sweeping In print no doubt he softened his harsh
sentence yet in print there lis this year very
unusual amount of outspokenscensure upon bad
pictures. Perhaps there is no great use In saying
whether particular exhibition is bettor or worse
than the average. Certain 1t is that there are
great many bad pictures. The number of them is
enormous and the Academicians contribute more
than their full share to the quota. To make
matters worse, the strongest men IN the Academy
are not at their best. Hardly OF the most fam
GUS among them has sent more than ono or two
works in his best style. Some of the younger ont
slders show marked advance their previous work.
but the public judges primarily by the pictures of
the men with whose names 1t is most familiar, and
tho verdict of the first day or two has been unmis-
takably hostile one. People do not think this
present exhibition of the Royal Academy of high
order of excellence.
II we look first at Mr. Millais who is surely tho
most popular painter in England at this moment VIC
shall nd that he has sent exactly picture which
the critics and the public agree in regarding as first
rate portrait of his fellow Academician. Mr. j. {.
Hook Into this admirable work Mr. Millals has
put his heart soul. You sec the veteran with his
powerful head and gray beard and high colored
cheeks in his painting jacket with palette in hand.
and il s picture in which II is hard 10 find fauli.
Drawing, coloring. the sense of character and the
rendering of IL. are oil you could ask for But II
you pass from that TO Mr. Millaiss ono composition
OF an imaginative kind. yOu find yourself at
once IN the region Of the commonplace. the vague.
almost the meaningless. Who is this Gray Lady"
and " hat is she and to what eud Is she climbing
those shadovy stars You will he shrewd indeed
If you answer these questions or IL you can detect
in this. or in one or two OF the portraits which Mil
iais signs that tonch of the master hand 40 well
known TO You in his better moods. Pigments laid
OIL with a knife broad sweeps of a careless brush,
the same heigbtening of carnations into unnatural
blood red hues. the same sketchncss and deficient
sincerity visible In that unlucky portrait of tho
Duchess OF Westminster which hangs In the Grosye-
nor Gallery.
Or turn TO Mr.. Orcharlson. whose Voltarc" " Is
one OF tho two sensational pictures OF the year.
This Is largo canvas. perhaps seven feet by four,
crowded with figures ycllGwish gray tint pre-
dominating, and the pasty look which belongs 10 so
much Of Mr.. Orchardson's work rather more pasty
and coarse than ever. The sceno passes at the
Due de SullPs Votairo has been dccoyed from the
banaueting room TO tho street, beaten by the Due
do Rohan's laekeys, and returns In a ino rage TO
appeal to his host for redress for tho outrage his
guests. The scene Is dramatic enough, but has this
defect common to multtudes OF English pictures:
it is ununtegbe unless you know the story. Mr..
Orchardson himself has not thought his picture
could DO Understood without the hop of half
page from Carlylc's account, and when YOU have
read Carlyles account IL not clear that the paint
ers brush has added much TO the pioturosqueness OF
the narrative. But surely historical painter. II
such We are to consider Mr.. Orchardson, has. OF
should have. some higher aim than to illustrate
book IL is the fashion to praise Blr. Orchardson,
and easy enough to see why. Ile Is one OF the most
plausible OF painters his canvas IS animated, the
attitudes of his figures varied. the general effect
cheerful and having got so mach 70 be- thankful
for people do not stop TO find fault with the thin
ness and trick Of his method, or his carclessncss
about faithful representation OF individual char
acter VIII any Of his admirers say why all these
faces VOltares tho Due dc Sullis the nobility
about him, and the servants, should be so like each
other as to seem all painted from tho same moael
And yet Mr. Orchardsons Voltaire is work OF
high and delicate art In comparison with Mr.. Frths
so called Private View at the Royal Academy;
largo work hung upon the line In conspicuous
postion at the further end Of the second gallery.
The only attempt Mr.. Firth has made Is to group
a number of individuals as they might be supposed
10 have appeared on such an occasion as to-day
supposed, / say for In fact no such heterogeneous
collection was ever beheld anywhere by anybody
on any day whatey er Dim SinHidcra OF people one
has seen or heard of hudded together, those Of
them who are recognizable mostly caricatures. the
majority not recognizable at all. The women are
scarcely to be known by their most intimate
friends. stood in front of this picture by tho side
of o lady whom know to be well acquainted with
the social celebrities here meant to be reproduced
She made q number Of wild guesscs and gave 1t up