New-York tribune., 1901-01-21
ENGLISH ART.
THE EXHIBITION OF SIR WILLIAM prcr,
MONDS PORTRAITS. ACADEMIC
PIECES AND CARTOONS.


London January
Sir William Richmond finds. in the prema+,r.
hOnors of a fairly complete exhibition Of b,s
works. timely consolation for the har.ss,
annoyanees of controversy over the deeor,+,o
OF ST. PauTs. One-nan exhibitions have boan
the interesting of recent London art sbo,v,
and public estimates of the range and reso,,rca,
of Rembrandt, Van Dyck, ROmney Foul
MADDOX Brown. Rossetti. Leighton NrJIIais
Burne-Jones and William Morris have boa.
raised by comprehensive and symmetrical dis
plays Of their works. Sir William Rebrnora
has received from the New Gallery the bi.b
compliment OF similar survey OF his forty wear.
of artistic production BY birth he was A.
demic for his father was an Associate at R,,r
lngton House; by training he was the Same
for he was student of the Royal Academy and
two medals there; and by temperament cast
of mind and order of handicraft he was NOTHING
else. for. although he was an industrious sun-
porter of the Grosvenor Gallery during tba
period when it was making a strong profess
against the conventional art of the older tnstf-
tuition. his work was either essentially classical
like Lord Leghtons, or was shaped and col
ored by the accepted ideas and prevailing fash
ions of portraiture. The New Gallery, which
took up the work of the GrosvenOr Gallery and
had character Of it's own while Burne-Jones
lived, seems to have lost its raisOn d'etre and
to have reached stage where an apotheosis Of
an Academician-for that is What is implied
by a complete exhibition Of a living artists work
is a natural evidence of decline.
No fault is to be found with this collection On
the score of incompleteness. The catalogue
contains 495 entries including 100 paintings in
oil in the two main galleries. four examples of
sculpture, twenty-six cartoons mainly for worl.
at St Pauls. and over three hundred sketches
drawings silverpOints and studies. Every stage
of an art career OF forty years is adequately
represented and the artists best achievements
in portraiture, classical themes. landscapes
sculpture and decorative and ecclesiastical de-
signs are exhibited. His patrons have sent Dor
traits from their town and country houses; the
Corporation Galleries have lent his most am
bilious academic works. and he has enptied his
studio. and possibly his lumber room. of sketches
and drawings in the effort TO supply details Ct
his art processes. If the game be worth the
candle the spectators may trace the evolution Of
his art from the earliest portraits exhibited in
the sixties to the highly finished works dis
played at the Grosvenor Gallery, when English
painters were not content with copying the
fashions displayed at the Academy. but were
dreaming dreams and following creative I'M
pulses Of their own; or they may study in detail
the arduous labOrs Of his decorative apprentice
ship at ST. PauIs. Only a painter Of exceptional
power and range is equal to the supreme test Of
a comprehensive exhibition Of this sort; and if
the admirers OF Sir William Richmond are dis
appointed with the results, it is because they
have overrated his draughtsmanship, his tech
nidue in composition and his resources as
colorist-
There are signs Of steady progress from the
portraits OF Walter CoIeridge. John Richmond.
Mary Ogle, Professor DOnkin, Mrs. Buchanan
and Dean siddelPs daughter. painted between
1860 and 1870. and those Of his Grosvenor Gal
Iery period, such as Robert Browning. Prince
Bismarck William Morris. Margaret Burne-
Jones, Mrs. Frederic Harrison. Lady Ermya-
trude Malet Mrs. Luke Ionides, Mr. Gladstone.
Princess Louise ard Countess Grosvenor, and
there is a similar advance in style from Enid
and Geraint' OF the earlier decade, to the "Au-
dience in Athens The Ten Virgins the PRO
metheus' the Electra" the "SarpedOn," the
Birth of Venus the 'Icarus.'' the Venus and
Anchises'' and the ''Ariadne in Naxos" Of the
middle and final stages; and if there are no
marked transitions OF style there are no ev-
dences of decadence and impaired force at the
close. The portraits of Miss NIurieI Wilson and
Mr. Holman Hunt painted in the last two years.
are as good as any of the previous examples Of
portraiture and there are no indications in the
sense or in modelling; and if anything. there IS
a surer mastery of the details Of composition
Sir William Richmond at dfty-seven is in full
possession of the resources of his art; but when
this exhibition has been examined with pains
taking care. it is found deficient in creative
power. vitality and genius.
There is perhaps fault Of arrangement OF
these works in the galleries, which interferes
with the spectators full enjoyment Of them.
Sir Joshua ReynoIds's authority is often cited
in favor of distributing portraits among land
scapes and genre works for the sake Of contrast
and relief; but it is another thing to present
classical themes at regular intervals Of wall
space between groups Of portraits in modern
costume. In the north room there is a din
glimpse of ''Persephone and Psyche in the
Shades with CLEANS of roseate light to dis
close their dark red and blue draperies, and
above them is a pale, dim Joan OF Arc; but
clustered about them are Countess CarrnSton'
Lady Frederick Cavendish and Miss Cicely Wof-
maid with wide awake air. full light and the
fashions Of the present day Further on a
classical figure, ''Ariadne in NarOs.' Iaments IN
the spirit of CatuIlus's ode the broken vows ana
bad faith of Theseus as she wanders along the
bleak ssashore; but either side in the spieK
and span dress of the day smile coutentedy
Mrs. Charles Cuninghame Graham, with white
frock and yellow sash and roses and Lady
Daney. in complex costume of rose and silver
and embroderies. A ''Phidyle," beautifuI IN
drawing. tender in sentiment and true to the
Horatian lines. is surmoUnted by matter-of-
fact portrait of Mrs. Woods 'Prometheus Re
leased by Hercules from 4 rock IN the sea
underneath a rose tinted sky fares better in his
environment for to the right and to the LEFT are
Gladstone. grim and majestic in mien, and Der