The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1848-05-30 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

EXHIBITION OF MODERN PAINTINGS, BY MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY.  On entering the rooms in Post-office Place, the work which first meets us is the Cartoon, •` First Trial by Jury." by C. W. Copeland, R.A., which carried off the 360 guinea prize at Westminster Hall. It is a noble design, simple and classically correct, yet graphic. The murderer —a bondsman as pointed out by his wearing a collar round his neck—is placed by the side of the prostrate victim, apparently on the spot where he fell, and his wife, stooping over the corpse, is detailing to the feudal Baron and an attentive Jury the circumstances of the murder. The grouping and drawing of the various figures introduced is most artistical and clever.  The painting, No. 1, in the large room, " Giving Alms," by C. Landseer, R.A., is an excellent specimen of the artist's style. The subject is taken from the following passage in " Styles Annals of the Reformation,"—" This Knight and his daughter had the character of very good almsgivers, in respect of their great liberality to the poor ;" and the painter has given the worthy knight in the act of distributing alms at the porch of his Hall to a crowd of supplicants, whose various characters and conditions are forcibly depicted. The knight himself is a fine representative of his class ; and, amongst the other figures that of a negro and the sturdy Flemish-looking kitchen wench, who is bringing out a supply of provisions, are most striking.  No. 3, " The Deluge," by F. Danby, A.R.A., is a wonderful painting, striking in its conception, and most masterly in detail and execution. The artist has introduced as his principal object a towering rock, around whose base the mighty flood is surging, and whose steep sides are studded with a multitude of human beings, frantically struggling to attain its summit. The figures and features of the crowd stand out clearly in the wild white light of the tempest ; and those who have already reached the top are painted with surprising force and, at the same time, almost the minuteness of minatures. In the foreground, on the left, a terrific scene is introduced, in which a number of figures are seen clinging to a tree, which is giving way beneath their weight and the force of the waters. The sky and the pouring clouds are fiinely conc2ived and full of grandeur; and through an opening the ark is seen riding tranquilly in the distance. A fine effect is produced by the blood-red sun, settling at the left hand corner. This noble work of art deServes to be studied, and will amply repay frequent visits. No. 5, " And Christ was subject to his parents," by Herbert, is a beautiful specimen of the artist, chaste and simple in its details, and solemn in conception. The youthful Saviour is represented as entering the workshop of Joseph, carrying a basket of chips, in a heap of which upon the floor a cross has been accidentally formed by two intersecting pieces of bark. He is in the attitude of one startled by some dim remembrance or passing thought ; and the painter has suggested, by the quotation of some lines, that possibly at times his destiny was thus suggested to him. The Virgin Mother has her eyes fixed upon her son with a mournful and solemn expression, as if she herself were conscious of the feelings which were passing through his mind. His figure is the most striking in the picture, which throughout is full of genius. We observe that an engraving of this work is in preparation.