New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-05-27
THE NEW GALLERY.
syrTH NOTES ON MR. BURNE-JONES MR.
WATTS MIR. AL.MA-TADEMA.. AND MR.
SHANNON


regretted has borne such fruit that 1t can be re-
eretted no longer except on personal grounds
Messrs Halle and Comyns Carr, who quilted Sir
Coutts Lindsay, have justified their departure by
their new enterprise They have given London
what IL most Graves q novelty, or novel sensa-
ton. How can there be room for new gaileryr
oueried the art public: IL there be an art puDhc
Mr.. Whistler says there is not, and never was
There is at any rate, public which goes to see
mixtures and TO this public Messrs Halle ana carr
have presented, not a. but The, New Gallery Inc
building Of it, / am told, comes little short OF
miracle. No similar work was ever done in so
short a time But that is nothing; 1t Is only one
more of those mechanical triumphs which we are
accustomed in these days to expect The real
triumph and the real surprise is the intelligent
sudacity of these two founders Of the New Gallery
Where they got the money l know not. Rumor
mentions names but rumor must be left TO NEIL
ton them to herself. 1t does not matter, except
that Capital is entitled to some share OF the creuV
The capitalist too has sometimes lntelngeh' ooui-
age Mr. Robson, the architect, and Messrs feto
the builders and the workmen who wrought Wy
day and by night for the completion OF the uai-
leries-they all have share III the Celebrity
/ heard a characteristic story OF ME- Carr
friend asked him some weeks ago whether 'he
nlace would really be finished by the day APP
lated It all carefully, and the last workman Will
he ont ten minutes before the doors open" And
he was: / saw the pictures on the Press Day
amid clouds of dust and throngs OF the British
Artisan and the noise of many hammers But
on the following morning when the Private view
was held the British Artisan had departed taxing
his dust and hammers with him and leaving no
other trace of his presence than the graceiul
perfection of his completed work will not de-
scribe it for l want to say something OF inc
pictures which encased in this frame OIL marble
and fine gold and rich stuffs. London announced
its verdict at once, and society owned that it had
discovered O new and agreeable lounge ms
view is not high view, and perhaps 1t lustllies
Mr.. Whistler in promulgating his cynical apoph-
thegm, but it assures to the directors the success
they have so entirely deserved
It is here in this New Gallery that, this year
at all events, must be sought evidence OF what
is most significant in the newer school of English
art, here and not, once, in the Royal Academy
and more recently in the Grosvenor The glory
of the Grosvenor has not / hope departed, but
il is dim for the moment The Academy has more
good pictures than usual, but most Of the best
are PORTRAITS and the best portraits are by foreign
ers and the vast acreage of British lions but
poorly expresses the high aim of the better Brton
Here in Regent Street there are at least four men
whose work would give distinction TO any exhibit
ton whatever. The four are MIR. Burne Jones,
Mr. Watts Mr.. Alma-Tadema and Mr. Shannon.
Others there are who command respect whose
work may be admired who are perhaps, more
popular than one or two of these four, but it is
by some one of these four and by no one else
that the note Of the year is struck Sir John
Millais who has two pictures, is very far indeed
from being at his best; he is careless in both; III
one almost slovenly. Mr.. Herkomer is better here
than at the Academy, but signs of the dispersion
of talent that needs concentration visible here
too Perhaps his portrait of Mr.. Macmillan, the
publisher is his strongest work There is plenty
of character in it; the Scotch granite OF his native
hills does not look harder than the close-set lips
of this determined face Mr.. Richmond's most
ambitious efforts are his least successful. Slr Ed-
ward and Lady Ermyntrude Malet are but lay
figures made to support masses of dry-goods stuff !;
the tailor and milner and ieweller have been Mr.
Richmond's inspiration. This is not the Sir Ed
ward Malet who holds his own at Berlin against
the Iron Chancellor; he might manage 1T well
enough however against the Bismarck of unbaked
CLAY whom Mr. Richmond has invented for the
Academy How could the same artist have painted
Mrs Andrew Lang the clever wife OF clever
husband? But he has, and there is In her portrait
the Vitality and the quality wanting In those
others
Mr. Halle renders the story of Paola and Frances
ca in his we'll known manner, with warmth OF color
and "A sense of what is dramatic and, in way,
pathetic Mr. f. d. Millet both here and at Bur-
lington House is in such force as do not remember
TO have seen him attain to before. lie is really
brilliant and his two interiors, both little want
ing in careful study, are both delightful lhere
is a portrait by Mr. Holman Hunt which, were
this powerful and eccentric painter younger ana
less stubborn in his perversitles, might giye
promise of that sober strength he was capable OF
had he but chosen more wisely MI Edwln Ward
is take IT, young and the promise IN his case Is
one he ought to keep Besides the remarKaoie
portrat of Mr. John Morley which l mentioned
the other day. he has two others, Mr. Labouchere
and Mr. Burnand: less remarkable yet successful IN
their protest against the conventional do not
pretend to exhaust the list but l return to
the four above named.
Mr.. Burne-Jones holds what must be called the
place of honor in this exhibition. His three large
pctures each with one or more ful-length, lie-sze
figures hang together in the centre OF the west
Gallery and nobody can enter that gallery without
feeling their power You may like them or dis
like them-that has little TO do with the matter
YOU must deal with them seriously. They are
seriously painted the spirit OF MI BurneJones
NAV be classed as classical or medieval or MODERN
it is at times all three but it is always rehgious
the Righteousness of man to whom arr is
religion / can remember no work OF his IN
which there is not some sadness Not the Chaht
d. Amour itself lie sees the world IN shadow Inc
studiousness evident in these canvaseS is almost
oppressive: not detail which has not been
thought out with infexible conscientiousness
The anatomical structure of the two Andromedas
is revealed to the beholder with unflnching
fidelity and the metallic hue of the steel IN when
Perseus is clad would delight the soul OF an
armorer; so does the intense, deep vivid blue Of the
irses in the foreground Who taught him these
secrets of color and structure? Who Is there VINO
tells them with quite the same subtletyT Nothing
is older than the legend of Perseus and Andromeua
nothing more remote from the life OF to-day ;