The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-12
pIorrREa Inv n0NDON.
Portraits and landscape KxhfhAtea at
the New Gallery.

,nr,mer, and its aim is TO get ahead Of the
older institution. .
Il gets ahead in point Of time, for 1t opens
fortnight earlier; but II 1t has got ahead
his wear in point OF quality, then the Royal
academy will be a very poor show indeed
perbsp. the present collection OF pictures
saens particularly poor, coming, as 1t does,
Immediately after the exhibition OF the
International Society. held In these same
.aIIeries. That stands a much better
hangs - being a good show, for the best
liant Of many nations is assennbled and
,ba committee is catholic in its tastes.
\t ops time the New Gallery befriended
.,hsd artistic who were not accepted by
he ROYAL Academy. The merry. quarrel
some Whistler never came TO terms with the
novers that he at Burlington House; and
Burne-Jones. although he exhibited there
onoe or twice after he was tardily elected
an Associate. returned to those who first
recognized his talent.
Watts, too, showed his best pictures there.
linen the New Gallery had a reason for is
oristence. Now these men are dead and
the galleries are mostly filled with the work
n a few feeble imitators and certain artists
not accepted by the Royal Academy.
oh, the dulness OF theml The unin-
,croatinr. insipid. mediocre, dulnessi With
yreat cunning their work is placed in the
first two rooms, otherwise the visitors
would never look at them at all.
There are commonplace maidens in
,nadeuuate drapery playing on impossible
Instruments, while they smirk at the spec
tator. there are coy Greek shepherdesses
struggling with shepherds whose muscles
look as though they were bags stuffed with
saydust; there are pretty cottages with
The regulation flower garden. There are
Illustrations Of medieval legends, which
perhaps would not be so bad if reduced to
he size Of an illustrated manuscript.
In these rooms the mediocre duuness is
relieved by one or two good portraits Of
a few good landscapes. Almost the first
nicturo one comes to is a landscape by
Mofat Lindner.
It would be interesting IL one could only
see It. But why, oh why, is it glazed? To
look at a picture through a glass Is almost
az irritating as looking at a notable per-
sonage or a pretty woman or a fine stretch
Of country from behind a closed window.
One longs TO throw up the window and
get q clearer view.
It il permissible 20 protect an invaluable
work Of an old master by glazing 1t; but
n the present case the glass only serves to
effect the other pictures in the room or
else the visitors. Moffat Lindner is q capable
artist and does charming work when he
sticks to his own style. 1t is foolish Of him
( oimitate Arthur Melville, as so many others
are doing since the posthumous exhibition
Of that exceptionally gifted man
p Sir James Linton's large picture, The
%tdmonition," is a nice, old fashioned. early
Victorian work. A Bishop has arrayed
himself in his mitre and priestly garments
10 90 and chide a wastrel prince who is
ding away his time in the company Of a
singing girl and a troupe Of m~arionettes.
Byam Shaw is more at home in dealing
with a large emblematic composition. His
coioring is apt to be a triie crude, and in
the Gagged Bird the green is too rank and
the detail overelaborated OF the formal
garden which obviously forms the cage
Of the girl who is kneeling in the middle Of
the lawn. She is holding in her hand a
bird cage OF which she has opened the door.
and her upward look follows the other
Gagged bird she has just liberated.
The first picture in the next room lie a
portrait by j. j.. Shannon, A. H. A., Of the
Countess Stradbroke. She has cast up
her eyes with a fearful look, as much as to
say, why am 1 placed in the company Of
all these Indifferent works Of art?"
The full length portrait OF the Hon. Mrs.
Coulson Fellowes by the same artist hangs
on the opposite side Of the room. She il
trying to look as though she were not con-
scious that her white evening dress was
really too dirty to wear
Percy Spence, e~ndeavoring to make
John Burns, Nj. p, look like a Cabinet Min
ister, has toned down his rugged counte-
nance and reduced the size Of his massive
shoulders till he is as much like a common
place parsonage as it would be possible for
John Burns TO be. j.. E. Blanche has a por-
trait OF Lucien Simon, a simple and forcible
work, without the harshness Of color and
technique which he so often gets in his more
ambitious paintings.
Harrington Mann has a successful picture
portrait Of a child allied Kathleen" With.
nut being an imitation OF Whistler's style
The influence Of that master is felt in the
scheme Of gray, relieved by the touches
Of rose colored ribbons in the child's hair.
Lady Alma-Tadema's dainty little picture
called Love at the Mirror" shows a pretty
figure Of a girl gazing at herself in a looking
glass. Lady Alma-Tadema has acquired
her husbands finished technique and adds
10 it a charming quality Of feeling all her
own
There are three good landscapes in this
room-"A Solitary Place Against the Wind
and Open Sky by Ivystan Hetherington,
4 silvery gray picture in which a winding
stream reflects the warm light in the sky;
"Moorland,T by Arnold Priestman, where
rolling clouds throw shadows on the undu-
Iatlng moors; and The Dignity Of Autumn,
hv Alfred East, A. II. A., a decorative CON-
position which shows the influence OF the
foreign school Of la~ndscapists.
The north room contains all that is best
m the exhibition. Here the works Of Johr
Sargent, r. A., though by no means the best
examples OF his paintings, easily TAXI a
FIRST place. He sends a full length portrait
:" the Rev. Edmond Ware, late head
master Of Eton, and a half length Of Mrs.
Harold Harmsworth.
Both show signs OF impotence, as though
he had not given suficien. time TO the draw
lng and arrangement before beginning to
rant and the mead Of DIR. Ware looks
unfinished, The high lights flicker over
he face and the head seems too small in
proportion. But the figure has much dig.
n,ty, and the black OF the gown is superbly
TaHHfnI rals..--l - "a -. -!