British Institution, Pall...
The Times, 1824-02-05T00:00:00

e We were yesterday ad toh priiate -view of the annual ex- hibition of iiodtrn pictures at this place, whieb wil be this day opened to thie public. Eromsthe cursory view we took of the collec- tion, we should be inclined to think it by no means one of the best we have witncssed at this place. At least, it iitrikes us that the good pictures are scarcer this year than formerly, and that even those are not generally of that class which we mlight have wished or expected them to belong to. How thtis is to he accounted for- whether it is to be attributed to the partiality or want of judgment of those to whom the office of receiving and rejecting the pictures Is intrusted, or whether it is tbat the artists themselves nave their reasons for withholding their works from this institution- we Inow not: we merely state what appears to us to be the faet, and leave others to draw their own conclusions on the subject. East- lake's pictures still maintain their pre-eminence, as they d:d last year, both from the novelty of the subjects, and a cartain took of reality and earnestness which they possess. Wtte do not, however, find that his powers are at all improved since last year; on the con. trary, we think that in the department of coloaring he has some- what retrograded. The best of his pictures is No. 304, Tlhe Bandit of tile Apefltincs. There is a sweet little picture, No. 341, Mater- net Adfectinm, by Etty, which for tenderness ot expression and purity of coloar will bear a comparison with works whici have ob. taied theapprobation of ages. Nr. Etty has certainly found the key to the secret, if there be any secret, of Venetian colouring. and we are convinced that the dirt of years, and the discolour- iegs of varnish, will at length draw from the Connoissevrs that praise to which every person of taste arnd judgment must al- ready feel his pictures to be entitled. No. 23, Iris and her Train, is one of those elegant and graceful compositions in which Mr. How- ard's poetic pencil so frequentlv indulgts; yet we do not think that the personification is sufficiently clear. Hilton's picture of Comna(s and tAe Lady in tle Bachanted Ch'air, which was exhibited last rear at Somerset-house, is again presented to the public at this exhibition. It is certainly a very pleasing production, and if a greater degree of attention had been bestowed en some of the pro. minent parts, would have deserved a more unqualified praise. The managementof the perspective in No. 110, by C. R. Stanley, is ex- tremely clever. No. 121, Colonel Blood's attempt to steal the Re,a- lia. by H. P. Briggs, is of a character to maintain the reputatior which that artist has deservedly acquired. The figures of Blood and the Feeper are spirited and natural, but we should have wished to have found a little more energy in the assodates of the daring robber. M"e are happy to observe a very clever study of a head, No. 160, the production of the admired pen- cil of Owen, who has so long suffered under a lamentable state of indisposition. We trust t!uis picture is a harbinger of his speedy recovery, as it is a proof of his unimpaired energies. Among others that are entitled to commendation, we observed some clever landscapes by Linton, a large historical picture by the two Foggos, a sweet little cabiniet piece by Fradelle, and last, not least, Edwin Lntndseer's admirable picture of the Cat's P?an, from the fable of La Fontaine, iapriTiSH hVsT)TUTIoM P-4ALLraLL -